Mahayuti 2.0: Fadnavis, Pawar & Shinde — The Power Trio Returns to Maharashtra With Swapped Roles

Mumbai: True to his word, BJP leader Devendra Sarita Gangadharrao Fadnavis made a massive comeback in Maharashtra, taking the oath as Chief Minister of the Mahayuti 2.0 government for the third time on Thursday at a grand ceremony in Azad Maidan. Five years ago, in December 2019, Fadnavis had pledged in the state Assembly, "Main samandar hoon, lautkar wapas aaunga" (I am the sea and will return) and exactly five years later, he has fulfilled that promise. Along with Fadnavis, NCP leader Ajit Pawar and Sena's Eknath Shinde took oath as his Deputy. Governor C P Radhakrishnan administered the oath of office to Fadnavis and his deputies.  

Devendra Fadnavis' swearing-in ceremony marked a show of strength by the NDA, showcasing unity and power in Maharashtra as Prime Minister Narendra Modi , Union Home Minister Amit Shah , BJP national president JP Nadda, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, UP CM Yogi Adityanath and CMs & Deputy CMs of NDA-ruled states, Union Ministers were present at the swearing-in ceremony.

While Pawar confirmed yesterday that he would take the oath as one of the Deputy Chief Ministers, there was no confirmation from the Shinde camp until the last moment regarding whether Eknath Shinde would accept the deputy CM post.  The formation of the new government comes after two weeks of intense negotiations following the November 20 state assembly polls and results on November 23.

Fadnavis, 54, who represents Nagpur South West constituency, emerged as the frontrunner for the top post as he was the face of the BJP's campaign and led the party to victory in 132 seats in the 288-member House.

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.

The swearing-in ceremony saw 42,000 attendees. Special arrangements were made to accommodate 40,000 BJP supporters and a separate seating arrangement made for 2,000 VVIPs, including leaders from various religions. More than 4,000 police personnel were deployed for security, officials said.

Fadnavis has been chief minister twice. He headed the BJP-Shiv Sena government for five years from 2014 to 2019. Amid a deadlock after the 2019 elections, as the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena severed its ties with the BJP over the CM post, Fadnavis was sworn in as chief minister with Ajit Pawar as his deputy. But this government lasted only 72 hours as Pawar could not get the backing of enough NCP MLAs.

When the Mahayuti government came to power under Shinde's leadership following a split in the Shiv Sena, Fadnavis became a deputy CM. Ajit Pawar too joined this government as a second deputy CM in 2023 after he split the NCP led by Sharad Pawar . Ajit Pawar, 65 took oath as deputy CM for the sixth time.