Mumbai: Devendra Fadnavis took the oath as the Maharashtra Chief Minister for the third time on Thursday, joining a galaxy of NDA leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, at the grand ceremony.

Governor CP Radhakrishnan administered Fadnavis the oath.

With Thursday’s swearing-in, Fadnavis has started his 3.0 innings. Former Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and former Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar were sworn in as the Deputy Chief Minister in the Fadnavis-led council of ministers.

Fadnavis is expected to expand his cabinet on December 11 or 12 ahead of the upcoming winter session of the state legislature, which starts on December 16 at Nagpur.

The swearing-in function started with a national anthem and Maharashtra Song at 5.30 pm and concluded at 5.45 pm.

Eknath Shinde, who was reluctant until this morning, joined as the Deputy Chief Minister, honouring the requests by Fadnavis and a host of Shiv Sena leaders.

Union ministers, including Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Shivraj Chouhan, JP Nadda (who is also BJP president), Nirmala Sitharaman, Piyush Goyal, Bhupendra Yadav, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Chirag Paswan, HD Kumaraswamy, and Ramdas Athavale, were among others who were present on this occasion.

The function also included the Chief Ministers of states ruled by the BJP and their allies, including Yogi Adityanath, Nitish Kumar, N Chandrababu Naidu, Pramod Sawant, Mohan Yadav, Vishnu Deo Sai, Himanta Biswa Sarma, and Mohan Charan Majhi.

Over 40,000 people participated in the function and a who’s who from industry, including Mukesh Ambani, who was accompanied by Anant Ambani, Kumar Mangalam Birla, Anil Ambani, Dilip Sanghavi, and Deepak Parekh, were present.

Bollywood stars Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Ranvir Singh, Ranbir Kapoor, and Madhuri Dixit, among others, came in large numbers.

Consul Generals of various countries were also present.

More than 10,000 Ladki Bahins, 2,000 farmers, 5,000 chairmen and secretaries of cooperative societies, and leaders and cadres from BJP, Shiv Sena, and NCP thronged the venue to participate in the grand ceremony.

Over 300 saints, influencers, and professionals, including doctors, chartered accountants, Bollywood stars, and Marathi film actors, were also present at the function.

Security was beefed up in and around Azad Maidan, situated near the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus in South Mumbai. More than 5,000 police personnel have been deployed, in addition to teams of the state reserve police force, anti-riot force, and rapid action force.

Five additional police commissioners, 15 deputy commissioners and 29 assistant commissioners were assigned to supervise security arrangements and for an incident-free swearing-in function. The police will also use drones to keep a close vigil.

 

 

 

 

 

 

–IANS