Ranjit Mahanti
DEVENDRA Fadnavis a fourth-term MLA from Nagpur on Friday took oath as the 27th Chief Minister of Maharashtra and the first from Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state.
At a grand function in Mumbai’s Wankhade stadium, along with Fadnavis, Eknath Khadse, Sudhir Mungantiwar, Vinod Tawde, Pankaja Gopinath Munde, Vishnu Rama Savra took oath as Cabinet Ministers, while Vidya Jaiprakash Thakur and Dilip Nyandev Kamble took oath as minister of state.
Unexpected, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray made a last-minute appearance, raising the possibility of a rapprochement between both the parties. BJP chief Amit Shah and Devendra Fadnavis had a telephonic conversation and invited him for the event.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, L K Advani, former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, NCP leader and former Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, Goa CM Manohar Parrikar, Andhra Pradesh CM Chandra Babu Naidu and dignitaries from across the country were present at the event.