Devendra Fadnavis Sworn-In As Maharashtra's First BJP Chief Minister Friday Oct 31,2014

 

Devendra Fadnavis was sworn in as the BJP’s first chief minister in Maharashtra on Friday Oct 31,2014 at the Wankhede stadium in a grand ceremony marked by the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray. 

 

Governor C. Vidyasagar Rao administered the oath of office and secrecy to Fadnavis and 9 ministers at the nearly one hour long ceremony, which was high on opulence and symbolism. 

Those sworn-in as Cabinet ministers include the BJP’s core committee members Eknath Khadse, Sudhir Mungantiwar, Vinod Tawde and Pankaja Munde

Ghatkopar MLA Prakash Mehta — a representative of the influential Gujarati community, Chandrakant Patil — an MLC from Kolhapur and an old RSS hand, and Vishnu Sawra — legislator and a ST leader are the other Cabinet ministers. 

BJP leaders Dilip Kamble and Vidya Thakur, meanwhile, took the oath as ministers of states. 

A 150-foot-long stage was set up on the ground between the Garware Pavillion and MCA Pavillion. While Modi and other senior dignitaries such as Amit Shah and L. K. Advani sat on the left side of the stage, the newly-elected Cabinet ministers were administered the oath at the centre. 

Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray, who made a last-minute decision to attend the event after a call from his BJP counterpart, sat five seats away from Modi. 

Uddhav was flanked by former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan and Union minister Venkaiah Naidu on the dais.