Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde addressed a press conference soon after taking oath said he will work for the common man of the state. He said that the Central government gave strength to the Mahayuti government. "I thank PM Modi and Amit Shah as historical work has been done in the last two and a half years," he said.
"Thanks to the new CM Fadanvis, Ajit Pawar, I got the support of both of them, we worked as a team. Devendra suggested my name two and a half years ago, now I suggested his name. Like Devendra ji, I will give him full support this time," he said.
Eknath Shinde says, "Devendra Fadnavis has taken oath as CM in a historic swearing-in ceremony. I congratulate him. Maharashtra is a state that gives ideological direction to the country and I, who comes from a simple farmer family, got the opportunity to become the CM of such a state...PM Narendra Modi also supported us completely, gave us full strength. Union HM Amit Shah also stood behind us with full strength...And that is why we could do so much work in 2.5 years. We have taken so many historic decisions. This will be written in golden letters. I had said that in this election, we will see the result of the 2.5 year tenure of the government, we will get the blessings of the people. I am also happy that when we started, 2.5 years ago, 40 people were with us, today 60 people are there. Earlier I used to consider myself as a common man, not a Chief Minister, now as DCM, I consider myself dedicated common man... I will fully support the CM and cooperate with him..."
Earlier in the day, Eknath Shinde and Nationalist Congress Party Chief Ajit Pawar took oath as Deputy Chief Ministers of Maharashtra. Governor CP Radhakrishnan administered the oath to Shinde and Pawar at a ceremony held at Mumbai’s Azad Maidan.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Devendra Fadnavis was sworn in as the Chief Minister of the new Mahayuti government. Notably, Fadnavis served as Maharashtra CM from 2014-19 and as Deputy CM under the recent Mahayuti government.
The ceremony was held in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and several other prominent leaders.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, and Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami along with others were also present at the event.
Prominent celebrities such as cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and Bollywood stars Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Ranveer Singh, and Madhuri Dixit were among those in attendance.
Ending the long-drawn suspense over who would get the top job, Fadnavis, Shinde, and Pawar met Governor CP Radhakrishnan to stake their claim to form the Mahayuti government on Wednesday.
At the legislature party meeting held in Vidhan Bhawan, former Gujarat CM and BJP's central observer Vijay Rupani announced that Fadnavis has been unanimously elected the BJP legislature party leader.
The decision came after days of speculation and political manoeuvring as Eknath Shinde wanted to become the chief minister of Maharashtra. However, the BJP, refused to budge and later, Shinde said he would back PM Modi's pick.
