Fadnavis back in the saddle

Mumbai: Scripting a powerful comeback, Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday evening took oath as Maharashtra Chief Minister, while leaders of the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance, Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar, were sworn in as deputy chief ministers at a grand ceremony in south Mumbai's sprawling Azad Maidan.

Immediately after the ceremony, the triumvirate drove together to Mantralaya, the state secretariat, also in south Mumbai, where Fadnavis, 54, chaired a cabinet meeting and addressed a press conference. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, several Union ministers and chief ministers of various states besides thousands of supporters of the Mahayuti alliance were present at the ceremony, held almost a fortnight after results of the state assembly elections were declared on November 23.

No other ministers were sworn in. The ministry will be expanded next week, ahead of the winter session of state legislature in Nagpur, a BJP leader said.

Those present at the ceremony included Union ministers Amit Shah, J P Nadda, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari and Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Chief ministers of various NDA-ruled states were also present, including Yogi Adityanath, Nitish Kumar, Himanta Biswa Sarma, Mohan Yadav and Pramod Sawant. Also present were actors Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Ranbir Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit, cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar and industrialist Mukesh Ambani. Fadnavis, elected from Nagpur South West constituency, was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor C P Radhakrishnan, who also swore in Shinde (60) and Pawar (65).

Signing his first file after taking charge of office, Fadnavis approved a proposal to provide financial assistance of Rs 5 lakh for a patient awaiting bone marrow transplant.