31st October 2014 was not just marked with the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhai Patel and the death anniversary of Indira Gandhi, it was also marked with the swearing in ceremony of Maharashtra’s 27th Chief Minister – Devendra Fadnavis. Fadnavis is only the second Brahmin Chief Minister after Shiv Sena’s Manohar Joshi in the state dominated by Maratha politicians.
The swearing in ceremony was held in Wankhede stadium in Mumbai with an attendance of 40,000 guests. Among the guests included, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah, BJP leader L K Advani, Union Ministers Nitin Gadkari, M Venkaiah Naidu, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Prakash Javadekar, Radhamohan Singh, BJP Chief Ministers Raman Singh of Chhattisgarh, Manohar Parrikar of Goa, Anandiben Patel of Gujarat, Vasundhara Raje of Rajasthan, recently elected Maharashtra BJP MLAs, Shiv Sena supremo Uddhav Thackeray, former Chief Minister of Maharashtra Prithviraj Chavan, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu, Bollywood celebrities Vivek Oberoi, Director Madhur Bhandarkar and NCP leaders Praful Patel, Chhagan Bhujbal and Ajit Pawar along with other industrial honchos and influential celebrities.
The event started with a cultural program being organised to promote Maharashtra’s various cultural activities which included Marathi songs, dances and music bands from various parts of Maharashtra. Later as the politicians entered the stage, there were huge cheers from the crowd when Devendra Fadnavis came to the stage. Later when Pankaja Munde entered the stage, there was a loud cheer from the crowd welcoming her to the stadium. But the crowd was waiting for the main star guest to enter the stage – PM Narendra Modi. So when he entered the stadium, the crowd gave him a rapturous cheer with slogans like ‘ Modi Modi!’ being shouted far and wide.
Soon after, Devendra Fadnavis took to the stage and Governor C Vidyasagar Rao administered the oath of office and secrecy thereby officially confirming Devndra Fadnavis as the CM of Maharashtra. Apart from Fadnavis, seven Cabinet Ministers and two Ministers of State also took oath. Cabinet Ministers who were sworn in were Eknath Khadse, Sudhir Mungantiwar, Vinod Tawde, Pankaja Munde, Prakash Mehta, Chandrakant Patil and Vishnu Savara, all members of the BJP’s state Core Committee. The Ministers of State were Dilip Kamble and Vidya Thakur.
Former ally Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, whose party had decided to boycott the event citing “constant humiliation” by BJP during talks for formation of a coalition government, attended after a last minute call by party President Amit Shah.
Immediately, the new CM made an announcement. “In the first cabinet meeting we have resolved to bring in the Right to Service Act. We have formed a committee under the chief secretary to prepare the draft of the legislation, which has to be submitted within a month’s time,” Fadnavis told reporters.
Explaining the philosophy of the Act, Fadnavis said, “Government departments essentially provide services to the people. Hence we have asked all the departments to enlist the ‘services’ they provide to the people and prepare a tentative timeline required for each of the services. This would be the part of the new legislation, a form of citizen’s charter. It will ensure transparency and provide better services to the people who can take legal recourse if they don’t get them.”
Portfolios will be allocated to the seven Cabinet and two Ministers of State on Saturday, he said while answering a question. The new government will seek a vote of confidence during a special three-day session of the state Assembly beginning November 11.
Compiled by: Abhishek Vissapragada
