BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis was sworn-in as the 21st Chief Minister of Maharashtra, while Shiv Sena’s Eknath Shinde and NCP’s Ajit Pawar took oath as deputy chief ministers on Thursday, ending the prolonged suspense over the ministry formation in the wake of the Mahayuti alliance’s massive victory in the state.

This is the third time Fadnavis was sworn-in as the Maharashtra chief minister.

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The swearing-in ceremony took place at the historic Azad Maidan ground here in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, BJP president J P Nadda, and others. It is the result of almost two weeks of hectic negotiations among the Mahayuti parties after the results of the 2024 Maharashtra assembly elections were declared on November 23.

The BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP Mahayuti coalition has a majority of 230 seats in the 288-member Maharashtra assembly.

Earlier during the day, the Shiv Sena stated that Eknath Shinde is all set to meet Amit Shah after the swearing-in ceremony to hold discussions about the contentious Maharashtra home portfolio, which has been eyed by both the BJP as well as the Shinde-led Shiv Sena.

“After the swearing-in ceremony, Eknath Shinde will meet Amit Shah and a decision will be made about the home minister and other portfolios,” Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Shirsat said.

In a related development, BJP leader Sudhir Mungantiwar said, “It is most likely that the council of ministers will be sworn in before the winter session of the Maharashtra assembly begins, in order to avoid administrative disruption,” after he was asked when the rest of the ministers of the cabinet would be sworn-in.

Shortly after Thursday’s oath taking event, Maharashtra CM Fadnavis, Deputy CMs Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Ajit Pawar addressed mediapersons at the sixth floor of the Mantralaya (state secretariat) administrative building located in South Mumbai, not far from the Azad Maidan ground where the swearing-in ceremony was conducted.

The ceremony was also attended by a bevy of Bollywood stars, including Shah Rukh Khan, Sanjay Dutt, Madhuri Dixit, Ranveer Singh, Ranbir Kapoor, among others. Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar and his wife also graced the occasion.

The Mahayuti parties won 236 seats in the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly. The BJP won 132 seats, the Shiv Sena 57 and the NCP 41. Devendra Fadnavis was sworn in as Chief Minister of Maharashtra for the third time. He has been Chief Minister of Maharashtra from 2014-2019. In 2019, he was the chief minister of the BJP-NCP government for 72 hours.

Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde was the former Maharashtra CM who served as the Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly from 2014-2019. He was also a minister in the Uddhav Thackeray-led government. Later, Shinde became chief minister after he rebelled against Uddhav Thackeray, split the Shiv Sena, formed the BJP-Shiv Sena coalition government and became the CM, while Devendra Fadnavis became Deputy CM.

Ajit Pawar became the Deputy Chief Minister in 2010 for the first time. On Thursday, Ajit Pawar took oath as the Deputy Chief Minister for a record sixth time in the present Devendra Fadnavis-led government. Ajit Pawar has been Deputy CM under four Maharashtra Chief Ministers, namely Prithviraj Chavan, Devendra Fadnavis, Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde. In the Mahayuti government sworn in on Thursday, Ajit Pawar happens to be the senior most and most experienced minister.