More than 500 farmers from different parts of Maharashtra will be invited to attend the swearing-in of Uddhav Thackeray as Maharashtra chief minister at Shivaji Park in Mumbai today evening, a top Congress leader said yesterday.
“We are having at least 500-700 farmers and widows for the grand function tomorrow. There will be at least 20 farmers from each district in Maharashtra,” said Vijay Wadettiwar, former Leader of Opposition in the assembly.
Chief Ministers of all opposition-ruled states have also been invited besides central leaders of all political parties, and state party leaders, he added.
Some of them are Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi, Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerji, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief M K Stalin.
Also invited is Maharashtra Navnirman Sena president and Thackeray’s cousin Raj Thackeray.
Shiv Sena Legislative Party leader Eknath Shinde said that apart from political dignitaries from all parties in Maharashtra and the rest of India, there will be celebrities from the film and glamour world, industrialists, sports personalities and prominent achievers in different fields.
He said that at least 500 farmers and widows who have met Thackeray during his state-wide election tours will be attending the function.
The chief Justice and judges of the Bombay High Court, top police, civil and defence officials, diplomatic corps and high-ranking government officials will also attend the swearing-in ceremony, sources said.
This is the first time in the state that a second swearing-in ceremony of a chief minister – of a different alliance government – within a gap of five days, will be held.
At the crack of dawn on November 23, a two-member government comprising chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar was sworn in, leaving the state and country in a daze.
However, that government barely completed 80 hours in office, paving the way for the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance government headed by Thackeray to stake its claim to power, and finally invited to take the oath of office on November 28.
Meanwhile, a day before his swearing-in, Thackeray got a boost when a Palghar-based party, Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA) joined the Aghadi, a top leader said.
In a statement, former Congress chief minister Ashok Chavan said that the BVA with three legislators has decided to throw its weight behind the MVA. The three legislators are Hitendra Thakur, his son Kshitij Thakur and Rajesh Patil.
With this, the strength of the MVA goes up to 169 in the 288-member assembly, said Chavan.
Starting his political career with the Congress over four decades ago, the six-time legislator Hitendra Thakur later formed his own political party which has been lording over the Palghar region.
The BVA wields total control over the Vasai-Virar Municipal Corporation and these twin towns – barely 25km north of Mumbai – rank as the fifth-largest in the state and the fastest growing urban conglomerate in India.
Once a staunch political rival of Shiv Sena, the BVA has largely remained unallied though it had supported the Bharatiya Janata Party after the election results were announced on October 24.
Following the unilateral support extended to MVA, the BVA could now be a contender for a ministerial post, according to party sources.