Uddhav Thackeray today took oath as Chief Minister of Maharashtra at the historic Shivaji Park in Mumbai’s Dadar in the presence of Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari. The head of the Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)-Congress alliance, Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi, Uddhav has become the first chief minister from the Thackeray family and the third from the Sena after Manohar Joshi and Narayan Rane.
Prime Minister took to Twittter to congratulate Uddhav Thackeray for his new office.
Congratulations to Uddhav Thackeray Ji on taking oath as the CM of Maharashtra. I am confident he will work diligently for the bright future of Maharashtra. @OfficeofUT
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) November 28, 2019
Six ministers — Shiv Sena’s Eknath Shinde and Subhash Desai, NCP’s Jayant Patil and Chhaggan Bhujbal and Congress’ Balasaheb Thorat and Nitin Raut — also took oath at the grand ceremony.
Congress’ Ahmed Patel, Kapil Sibal, Prithviraj Chavan, KC Venugopal, Mallikarjun Kharge, Sushil Shinde, Ashok Chavan and Abhishek Manu Singhvi were among the Congress leaders present on the stage. NCP leader Praful Patel, DMK leader MK Stalin and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath are present too. Mamata Banerjee and Arvind Kejriwal, who were also invited, have skipped the event.
Ajit Pawar didn’t take the oath today. After a meeting with Uncle and NCP chief Sharad Pawar and among other party leaders, Ajit Pawar said, “I will not be taking oath today”.
Former Prime Minister and former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi expressed their regret for not able to make it to oath ceremony in a letter to Uddhav Thackeray and congratulated him for becoming the Chief Minister and defeating the BJP’ attempt to undermine our democracy.