Uddhav becomes first Maharashtra CM from Thackeray family; Sena chief to lead 'secular govt'

Along with Uddhav, six other ministers- two each from the three parties- were sworn in by Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari.

The six ministers were Shiv Sena's Eknath Shinde and Subhash Desai, Jayant Patil and Chhagan Bhujbal from the NCP and Congress' eight-time MLA Balasaheb Thorat and Nitin Raut.

As per the deal sealed by the Sena, NCP and Congress, which won 56, 54 and 44 seats respectively in the assembly polls held in October, the Deputy Chief Minister's post will go to the NCP while Congress will have to be satisfied with the Speaker's post.

Though NCP leader Ajit Pawar, the leader who had supported the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on early Saturday morning fuelling the political drama, was speculated to get sworn in on Thursday itself but the politician was supposedly asked to wait.

Prior to Uddhav's swearing-in at the Shivaji Park, where cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar used to play since childhood, a common minimum agenda was released on Thursday evening.

Though Uddhav preferred to wear a saffron kurta unlike his cousin brother and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray who was dressed in a black attire, the common agenda stressed on upholding secular values which were also resonated in Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's congratulatory letter to the Sena chief.

"The people of Maharashtra have high expectations from the coalition and I am confident it will provide them a stable, secular and pro-poor government," Rahul, who along with Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi skipped the oath-taking ceremony, wrote in the letter.

Just few months ago, Sena MP Sanjay Raut while speaking on the delay in Ayodhya verdict had said, "We took ony 17 minutes to Babri Masjid, why the BJP is taking so much time to bring ordinance to build Ram Temple."

Though the Congress top brass skipped the event, party's Chief Minister from Madhya Pradesh, Kamal Nath, and DMK chief MK Stalin were in attendance. Setting aside bitter political rivalry barely few hours ago, former Maharashtra Chief Minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis was present in the audience.

Uddhav, who will lead the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra, became the first Sena Chief Minister after 20 years. Sena's Manohar Joshi remained the Chief Minister of the western state between 1995 and 1999.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was invited by Uddhav himself on Wednesday night to the swearing-in ceremony, skipped the oath-taking ceremony but congratulated the newly-sworn Chief Minister on Twitter saying, "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."

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who skipped the swearing-in too on a day she received a boost by winning the three byelections in Bengal, tweeted, "Congratulations to @OfficeofUT, @PawarSpeaks and @bb_thorat for forming the government in Maharashtra. Under your diligent leadership and firm commitment, we look forward to the State having a pro- people, stable government that works for all round development."

(Writing by Souvik Ghosh)