Fadnavis back in the saddle for third time with Shinde, Ajit Pawar in tow

MUMBAI: 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 a cabinet meeting and 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 ceremony, held almost a fortnight after results of the state assembly elections were declared on November 23.

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.

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).

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.

“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.

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.

At a press conference at Raj Bhavan immediately after the meeting, Shinde said, “I am happy that at this place around two and a half years ago, Fadnavis had recommended that I should become the CM. Now, we have given a letter of recommendation from Shiv Sena for Fadnavis to become CM. This government is being formed in a healthy atmosphere.”

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. Following a split in the Shiv Sena in 2022, Fadnavis became deputy CM in the Mahayuti government led by Shinde.

Police made special arrangements to accommodate the more than 40,000 party supporters who attended the oath taking ceremony on Thursday, and a separate seating arrangement was made for the around 2,000 VVIPs, an official said.

More than 4,000 police personnel were deployed for security during the swearing-in ceremony, the official said. At least 3,500 police personnel and 520 officers were deployed for security arrangements, he added. (PTI)