Mumbai: Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray was sworn-in as the new Chief Minister of Maharashtra in a grand function held at the Shivaji Park here on Thursday evening.
Governor BS Koshyari administered the oath of office and secrecy to Uddhav Thackeray, who sported a striking saffron coloured kurta-pyjama, the Sena party’s colour.
In an unusual gesture, soon after completing the formalities, Uddhav Thackeray stepped to the front of the stage and knelt down, touched his hands and head on the floor to express his gratitude to the people of Maharashtra for the honour bestowed on him.
Besides, two legislators each from the Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party and Congress, the key constituents of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), took oath as ministers.
They are: Shiv Sena’s Eknath Shinde and Subhash Desai, NCP’s Jayant Patil and Chhagan Bhujbal, and Congress’ Balasaheb Thorat and Nitin Raut.
Among the prominent dignitaries present on the occasion were more than 500 farmers and farm widows from all over Maharashtra, Uddhav Thackery’s cousin and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena President Raj Thackeray, industrialist Mukesh Ambani, his wife Nita Ambani and their family members.
Also present were at least three Chief Ministers from other states and six former Maharashtra Chief Ministers, including Sharad Pawar, Sushilkumar Shinde, Manohar Joshi, Prithviraj Chavan, Ashok Chavan and Devendra Fadnavis.
Other prominent personalities from all the three parties included Abhishek M Singhvi, Rajiv Shukla, Praful Patel, Kishore Tiwari, Supriya Sule-Pawar, Sanjay Raut, Arvind Sawant and Rohit Pawar.