Maharashtra CM swearing-in: PM Modi, Amit Shah, and Union Ministers attend NDA’s show of strength

Maharashtra CM swearing-in witnessed an NDA show of strength as the whole PM Modi government and NDA leaders were spotted at Azad Maidan in Mumbai on Thursday. Shiv Sena Chief Eknath Shinde and Nationalist Congress Party Chief Ajit Pawar took oath as Deputy Chief Ministers of Maharashtra, while BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis was sworn in as the Chief Minister of the new government.

During the ceremony, Governor CP Radhakrishnan administered the oath of office to the new Maharashtra government. Notable leaders who were spotted at the event include the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, N Chandrababu Naidu, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP national president JP Nadda, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, CMs and Deputy CMs of NDA-ruled states, Union Ministers, and NDA leaders.

Chief Ministers from various states arrived at Azad Maidan on Thursday, including Yogi Adityanath (Uttar Pradesh), Nitish Kumar (Bihar), Vishnu Deo Sai (Chhattisgarh), Pramod Sawant (Goa), Bhupendra Patel (Gujarat), and Pushkar Singh Dhami (Uttarakhand).

The Maharashtra Assembly Election marked a landmark moment in history after the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance secured a decisive victory with 235 seats. At the same time, the BJP emerged as the single largest party, winning 132 seats. Meanwhile, the Shiv Sena and NCP secured 57 and 41 seats respectively.

Congress-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) suffered a major setback as the grand old party secured only 16 seats, while its ally Shiv Sena (UBT) won 20 seats. The NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) won 10 seats.

On Wednesday, Fadnavis, Shinde, and Pawar met Governor CP Radhakrishnan to stake their claim to form the Mahayuti government, ending the long-drawn suspense over who would take the CM post. After days of speculation and political manoeuvring, former Gujarat CM and BJP's central observer Vijay Rupani declared that Fadnavis was unanimously elected the BJP legislature party leader.

(With agency inputs)