BJP legislature party leader Devendra Fadnavis will be sworn-in as the new chief minister of Maharashtra on Thursday evening at a grand ceremony to be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several other dignitaries in Mumbai’s Azad Maidan.
Nationalist Congress Party chief Ajit Pawar and Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde are expected to take oath as deputy chief ministers.
Union Ministers, BJP Chief Ministers, and Big personalities from the fields of business, sports, and entertainment have started to arrive at the venue.
On Wednesday, Fadnavis, with Shinde and Ajit Pawar, met Governor Radhakrishnan to formally stake claim to form a government, presenting letters of support from the coalition partners.
Before that, Fadnavis was elected as leader of the BJP legislature party at a meeting on Wednesday morning.
Special arrangements were made to accommodate 40,000 BJP supporters and a separate seating arrangement was made for 2,000 VVIPs, including leaders from various religions for the grand ceremony.
More than 4,000 police personnel were deployed for security in and around the swearing-in venue.
The Mahayuti alliance won a whopping 230 seats out of 288 Assembly seats in the November 20 elections. The BJP emerged as the single largest party winning 132 seats, while the Shiv Sena and NCP got 57 and 41 seats respectively.
