Mumbai: The Maharashtra chief minister’s swearing-in was a star-studded gala event organized at the 25-acre Azad Maidan in south Mumbai. Devendra Fadnavis, a two-time chief minister of the state, was sworn in for the third time.
After days of hard negotiations, former chief minister Eknath Shinde of the Shiv Sena settled for the deputy chief minister’s post. Ajit Pawar of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) was also sworn in as another deputy chief minister of the state.
Contrary to expectations that other ministers of the state assembly would also be sworn in at the event on Thursday (December 5), the ceremony concluded as soon as the three took their oaths in the presence of top BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah and Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
While the stage was filled with many prominent political personalities, among the audience were top Hindi film actors like Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Madhuri Dixit and Ranbir Kapoor.
Even after the landslide victory for the Mahayuti, with the BJP alone winning 132 seats in the assembly election, it took over 12 days for the chief minister to take charge of the state.
With 288 MLAs in the state, a winning party must have at least 145 MLAs to take charge. The Mahayuti has 230 MLAs. Shinde’s Sena secured 57 seats and Pawar’s NCP won 41 seats.
This staggering number came as a surprise to many, including the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi, which was decimated in this election. The same Maha Vikas Aghadi had put up an impressive performance only six months ago in the parliamentary elections, winning 30 out of the state’s 48 seats.
Shinde, who was the state chief for two and a half years, was opposed to Fadnavis being elected as chief minister.
Although Fadnavis, Shinde, and Pawar have continued to share the stage after winning the election, their body language and Shinde’s multiple media addresses made it evident that all is not well in the coalition. Even hours before the oath ceremony, it was not clear if Shinde would take part in the event and would be willing to accept the deputy chief minister’s post.
When it became clear that the BJP would elect one of its own as chief minister, Shinde made a few demands. He asked for several important portfolios, including home and finance, a decision on which is yet to be made public.
After the swearing-in, Shinde reportedly headed to meet Shah for further discussions.
Shinde, a Maratha leader, gained popularity in the last two and a half years. The populist schemes like the Mukhyamantri Ladki Bahin Yojana launched months before the assembly election had positioned Shinde as the state’s top leader.
During his tenure, the Maratha community agitation seeking reservation in jobs and education was at its peak. Maratha leader Manoj Jarange-Patil, who is leading the agitation, has taken on every other political leader in the state but Shinde. So, when the chief minister was to be chosen, Shinde had sent a feeler to BJP leaders that the state’s chief minister should be from the Maratha community.
Shinde was Maharashtra’s 12th Maratha chief minister.
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological mentor of the BJP, is believed to have played a decisive role in bringing Fadnavis back as chief minister. The RSS, which had distanced itself from the BJP in the parliamentary election, was back at the forefront in the assembly election, campaigning and strategising for BJP candidates across the state.
Fadnavis’s rise and momentary fall have both been dramatic. A former mayor of Nagpur, Fadnavis has been elected MLA five consecutive times. He was 44 when he first became chief minister.
In 2019, Fadnavis took the oath as chief minister for the second time, but his government could not last more than 80 hours. He had to go through a long phase of humiliation and accept the post of deputy chief minister, a post that is considered jinxed and one that makes it difficult for those who occupy it to climb up to the chief minister’s post.
Pawar is the best example of that. This is the sixth time he has taken charge as deputy chief minister, even though he has always eyed the chief minister’s post.
But Fadnavis managed to break the jinx. Fadnavis, who was mocked for saying “mi punha yein (I will return),” has finally made his statement come true.
