Maharashtra | Uddhav’s Swearing-in as CM today

The Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)-Congress alliance-Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) plans to put up a show of strength of non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) parties at the swearing-in ceremony of Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray as the next chief minister of Maharashtra on Thursday.

UddhavThackeray who is the first Thackeray to be the chief minister of the state willbe administered the oath at 6.40 pm at Shivaji Park, the ground in Dadar wherehis father, Late Bal Thackeray founded Shiv Sena in 1966.

Invitations have been sent out by the MVA for the ceremony to senior leaders from across the country, sending out a message to BJP, a day after forcing Devendra Fadnavis to quit as Chief Minister. The Sena also invited 400 state farmers and relatives of those who died owing to the agrarian crisis. Most of these farmers are from the Marathwada, where unseasonal rain destroyed crops last month.

Theother political leaders who have been invited for the swearing-in ceremony areCongress President Sonia Gandhi, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee,Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, DMK President MK Stalin, Samajwadi PartyPresident Akhilesh Yadav and chief ministers of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

Meanwhile,preparations for the ceremony have begun at Shivaji Park. "It is going to be ahistoric ceremony.