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Business tycoons, Bollywood actors, celebrities descended Thursday on Mumbai's iconic Azad Maidan, the venue for Devendra Fadnavis' swearing in as Maharashtra Chief Minister.
Mr Fadnavis, who had famously said "I'll be back" in the state Assembly after the BJP lost its government in 2019, today took oath as Chief Minister for a third time. Over the last two years, the 54-year-old was Deputy to Eknath Shinde. The roles were reversed today. It appears all tickety-boo for the BJP.
Ajit Pawar was also sworn in as Deputy Chief Minister.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, along with Chief Ministers from the BJP-ruled states, was on stage. Union Ministers too were in attendance.
Superstars Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Madhuri Dixit, Ranbir Kapoor, Ranveer Singh were also present on the occasion. So were leaders from India Inc - Pranav Adani, Managing Director (Agro, Oil and Gas) of Adani Group, Kumarmangalam Birla, among others.
Cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, along with wife Anjali, was also present on the occasion.
#WATCH | Mumbai | Actor Shah Rukh Khan attends the oath ceremony of the Maharashtra government
(Video source: ANI/ DG-IPR) pic.twitter.com/KS6Y8CMDFu
— ANI (@ANI) December 5, 2024
The Mahayuti alliance won 230 seats, with the BJP emerging the single largest party in the state polls when the results were announced on November 23. Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) - the other members of the ruling alliance - won 57 and 41 seats, respectively.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi or MVA - the opposition alliance - suffered a shattering loss. Their combined total stood at a paltry 46 seats. Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena faction won 20 seats, the Congress 16 and Sharad Pawar's party, the other NCP faction, won 10 seats.
From serving as an obscure corporator to becoming the youngest mayor of Nagpur, Devendra Fadnavis has strengthened his status as a prominent leader within his party. He is only the second Brahmin to serve as Chief Minister of Maharashtra, following the Shiv Sena's Manohar Joshi.
Son of Jan Sangh and later BJP leader late Gangadhar Fadnavis, whom his fellow Nagpur politician Nitin Gadkari calls his "political guru", Devendra cut his teeth in politics at a young age when he joined Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad, students wing of RSS, in 1989.
At 22, he became a corporator in the Nagpur civic body and its youngest Mayor in 1997 at age 27.
Mr Fadnavis contested his first assembly election in 1999 and won. There was no looking back for him as he won three subsequent assembly elections. He retained his Nagpur South West seat comfortably in the last month's election.