Maharashtra: Eknath Shinde, Ajit Pawar take oath as Deputy CMs in new Mahayuti government

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], December 5 (ANI): Shiv Sena Chief Eknath Shinde and Nationalist Congress Party Chief Ajit Pawar took oath as Deputy Chief Ministers of Maharashtra on Thursday.

Governor CP Radhakrishnan administered the oath to Shinde and Pawar at a ceremony held at Mumbai’s Azad Maidan.

Bharatiya Janata Party leader Devendra Fadnavis has been sworn in as the Chief Minister of the new Mahayuti government.

Notably, Fadnavis served as Maharashtra CM from 2014-19 and as Deputy CM under the recent Mahayuti government.

The ceremony was held in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and several other prominent leaders.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, and Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami along with others were also present at the event.

Prominent celebrities such as cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and Bollywood stars Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Ranveer Singh, and Madhuri Dixit were among those in attendance.

Ending the long-drawn suspense over who would get the top job, Fadnavis, Shinde, and Pawar met Governor CP Radhakrishnan to stake their claim to form the Mahayuti government on Wednesday.

At the legislature party meeting held in Vidhan Bhawan, former Gujarat CM and BJP's central observer Vijay Rupani announced that Fadnavis has been unanimously elected the BJP legislature party leader.

The decision came after days of speculation and political manoeuvring as Eknath Shinde wanted to become the chief minister of Maharashtra. However, the BJP, refused to budge and later, Shinde said he would back PM Modi's pick.

The Maharashtra Assembly Election 2024 witnessed a decisive victory for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Mahayuti alliance, securing a landslide win with 235 seats. The results marked a significant milestone for the BJP, which emerged as the single-largest party with 132 seats.

The Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party also made notable gains, with 57 and 41 seats, respectively.

While, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) suffered a major setback with Congress winning just 16 seats. Its alliance partner, Shiv Sena (UBT), won 20 seats, while the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) secured only 10 seats. (ANI)