Mumbai, 5 Dec

Scripting a powerful comeback, Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday evening took oath as Maharashtra Chief Minister, while leaders of the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance, Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar, were sworn in as deputy chief ministers at a grand ceremony in south Mumbai’s sprawling Azad Maidan.

Immediately after the ceremony, the triumvirate drove together to Mantralaya, the state secretariat, also in south Mumbai, where Fadnavis, 54, chaired the maiden cabinet meeting of the new regime and also addressed a press conference.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, several Union ministers and chief ministers of various states besides thousands of supporters of the Mahayuti alliance were present at the swearing in ceremony, held almost a fortnight after results of the state assembly elections were declared on November 23.

Most prominent opposition leaders were conspicuous by their absence at the glittering event, which was preceded by a musical show by Ajay-Atul, the music composer duo of brothers Ajay Gogavale and Atul Gogavale.

No other ministers were sworn in. The ministry will be expanded next week, ahead of the winter session of state legislature in Nagpur, a BJP leader said.

Those present at the ceremony included Union ministers Amit Shah, J P Nadda, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari and Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Chief ministers of various NDA-ruled states were also present, including Yogi Adityanath, Nitish Kumar, Himanta Biswa Sarma, Mohan Yadav and Pramod Sawant.

Also present were actors Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Ranbir Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit, cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar and industrialist Mukesh Ambani.

“Congratulations to Shri Devendra Fadnavis Ji on taking oath as Maharashtra's Chief Minister. Congratulations to Shri Eknath Shinde Ji and Shri Ajit Pawar Ji on taking oath as the Deputy Chief Ministers of the state,” Modi said on X after the ceremony.

“This team is a blend of experience and dynamism, and it is due to this team's collective efforts that the Mahayuti has got a historic mandate in Maharashtra. This team will do everything possible to fulfil the aspirations of the people of the state and to ensure there is good governance. I assure all possible support from the Centre in furthering development in Maharashtra,” Modi addd.

Fadnavis, elected from Nagpur South West constituency, was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor C P Radhakrishnan, who also swore in Shinde (60) and Pawar (65).

While this is the third time as CM for Fadnavis, for Ajit Pawar, it is his sixth time as deputy CM. Fadnavis has also become the state’s first deputy CM to become the CM.

Signing his first file after taking charge of office, Fadnavis approved a proposal to provide financial assistance of Rs five lakh for a patient awaiting bone marrow transplant.

Pune-based Chandrakant Kurhade's wife had sought help from the Chief Minister's relief fund for her husband's treatment.

The chief minister put his signature on the file before he chaired the first cabinet meeting.

“Our government will work with transparency for the welfare of the people,” Fadnavis told reporters at Mantralaya.

“We don’t want to indulge in vendetta politics,” Fadnavis said, referring to the depleted numbers of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi in the assembly.

Fadnavis also called for an "overhaul of political culture" in the state. There should be political communication, he said, referring to the invitation for the swearing in ceremony extended by him to prominent political leaders like Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray, who did not attend the event.

Incidentally, Fadnavis had attended the oath taking ceremony of the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government in 2019.

Addressing a separate press conference later, Shinde said, “I worked as a Common Man when I was the CM and will continue to do so.” “As DCM, I will work as Dedicated to Common Man,” he added.

The state cabinet, in its first meeting held in the evening, recommended to the Governor that the assembly session to administer oath to new MLAs be held from December 7 to 9, and the election of the House Speaker be held on the last day of the session.

Hours before Fadnavis took oath as CM for the third time, his banker and singer wife Amruta called it a “beautiful day.”

“This is a happy occasion and the sense of responsibility is greater,” she said.

Fadnavis emerged as the frontrunner for the top post as he was the face of the BJP's campaign and led the party to victory in 132 seats in the 288-member House.

The BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP 'Mahayuti' coalition has a commanding majority of 230 seats.

A delegation of the ruling Mahayuti alliance met the Governor at Raj Bhavan on Wednesday, soon after Fadnavis was unanimously elected state BJP legislature party leader.

Fadnavis, who has served as chief minister twice, led the BJP-Shiv Sena government from 2014 to 2019. After the 2019 elections, when the then Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena broke ties with the BJP over the CM post, Fadnavis was sworn in again with Ajit Pawar as his deputy.

However, that government lasted only 72 hours due to Pawar’s failure to secure sufficient support from NCP MLAs.