The one-month long tussle in Maharashtra regarding who will be the Chief Minister may finally come to an end today as Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray will be sworn in. Thackeray, 59, will become the 19th chief minister of Maharashtra. He will be the third Sena leader after Manohar Joshi and Narayan Rane to occupy the top post.
He will also be joining the league of seven leaders who got the chief minister's post in Maharashtra when they were still not a member of either the state Legislative Assembly or Council. The other members on this list are Congress leaders AR Antulay, Vasantdada Patil, Shivajirao Nilangekar-Patil, Shankarrao Chavan, Sushilkumar Shinde and Prithviraj Chavan.
The oath-taking ceremony will be held at the sprawling Shivaji Park at 6:40 PM. It is the same ground where Uddhav’s father and Sena founder Bal Thackeray addressed his famous Dussehra rallies.
The oath-taking ceremony will be taking place against the backdrop of a theme depicting the historic ‘Shivrajyabhishek’ (the crowning of Shivaji). It will also have a humongous picture of Maharashtra Legislature building in the backdrop.
Art director Nitin Desai, who is a well-known name in Bollywood for his larger than life sets has been entrusted with the task of creating this stage. He and his army of 1,000 workers have been racing against time to make sure they are able to do full justice to the stage and get it completed by 3:00 PM on 28th November. It is a massive stage measuring around 8,000 sq feet and has a seating capacity of 300 people.
Talking to Mumbai Live, Desai said, “It was a great responsibility and a challenge and I am grateful to have got this. I hope I am able to do full justice to this task and live up to the expectations of the people of Maharashtra”.
While the Bombay High court had raised concerns regarding the security arrangement. There are no stones left unturned to make sure that the security of the place is top-notch. As per reports, there are at least 2,000 police personnel deployed at Shivaji Park. The security agencies will turn the iconic venue into a virtual fortress as personnel drawn from various security forces, including Quick Response Teams, Riot Control Police, State Reserve Police Force, Local Armed Police and Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad are deployed to prevent any untoward incident. Dog squads are also on duty to maintain a vigil at the sprawling ground, located in the area. CCTV and Spy camera have also been installed in various places and security forces are keeping a close eye on the development.
Residents around the place have also been told that they might have to park their cars a little farther away from the venue for the time that the ceremony will be on. While the guest parking for those invited to attend the swearing-in ceremony has been arranged in nearby vacant areas such as Matunga, Hindu Colony, Five Garden.
Maharashtra Governor B.S. Koshyari will swear-in Shiv Sena President and Maha Vikas Aghadi leader Uddhav Thackeray as the new Chief Minister. Last night Aaditya Thackeray, who is Uddhav’s son went to Delhi to invite interim-Congress President Sonia Gandhi to the venue. He also extended the invitation to former Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal too had been invited to attend this event but it is now being said that he might give this a pass due to prior commitments.
According to sources, Chairperson of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, Raj Thackeray will be attending. Uddhav had extended the invitation to his estranged cousin and he seems to have accepted the same. It is also being said that Uddhav Thackeray extended an invite over a call to PM Narendra Modi as well. The two leaders spoke on phone earlier today where PM Nodi congratulated the new CM to be and said that the centre will extend its full cooperation towards farmers issues.
DMK's MK Stalin has arrived in Mumbai to attend Uddhav Thackeray's oath ceremony at Shivaji Park
Apart from these, at least 500 farmers and widows who have met Uddhav Thackeray during his state-wide election tours will be attending the function. Other dignitaries include, the chief Justice and judges of the Bombay High Court, top police, civil and defence officials, diplomatic corps and high-ranking government officials
Ajit Pawar who had sworn in as the Deputy CM in the second term of Fadnavis government may also swear in for the same post today.