United Colours of Uddhav; Six ministers two from each of the Maha Vikas Aghadi constituents also take oath

Mumbai: Political parties often dump their ideological baggage to come together – the adhesive being their fervent desire to cling onto power like a limpet.

What makes the Sena formulation a unique collaboration is the fact that the parties have successfully come out of their ideological traps to take on the brute majoritarian Goliath (read BJP) as they are sick and tired of its neglect of issues of governance.

Also Read: Shiv Sena lauds Sharad Pawar, dubs him 'margdarshak' of Maha Vikas Aghadi

Thereby, these three parties -- the Shiv Sena, the NCP and the Congress -- hope to write a new chapter in the history of Maharashtra.

The lakhs who swarmed the Shivaji Park to have a glimpse of Uddhav Thackeray being sworn in were not merely guided by a social impulse or their penchant for tamasha.

Rather, they were propelled by a genuine desire for change, which they hope to see with the Maha Vikas Aghadi assuming office.

Apart from Uddhav, two legislators from each of Maha Vikas Aghadi constituents - the Shiv Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress -- took oath as ministers.

They are Shiv Sena's Eknath Shinde and Subhash Desai, NCP's Jayant Patil and Chhagan Bhujbal, and Congress' Balasaheb Thorat and Nitin Raut.

How the times have changed: Sena flags fluttered alongside those of the NCP and the Congress at the famed venue. This is the very spot where Uddhav's father and the Sena founder Bal Thackeray had presided over the birth of the party on Dussehra day in 1966 and almost three decades later, in 1995, the first Sena chief minister, Manohar Joshi, was sworn in.

On Thursday, there was a sea of humanity in attendance, like it was a second Dussehra rally. At 6.40 pm, Chief Secretary Ajoy Mehta invited Uddhav to take oath.

Governor Koshyari put the unsavoury midnight developments behind him and administered the oath of office to Uddhav amid a thunderous applause and the bursting of crackers near Shiv Sena Bhavan.

Clad in a kesar-coloured silk kurta, Uddhav Thackeray, 59, first bowed before the ‘Shivrajyabhishek’ which depicts the crowning of Chhatrapati Shivaji, before taking the oath in Marathi.

The Sena Chief invoked his parents in his oath and called himself "Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray". For the record, NCP's Jayant Patil "saluted Sharad Pawar" in his oath and Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat referred to Sonia Gandhi.

Nitin Raut, working president of the Congress, took oath by saluting Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, Sonia and Rahul Gandhi and Gautam Budhha. Chhagan Bhujbal saluted Jyotiba Phule, Shahu Maharaj, Babasaheb Ambedkar and Bal Thackeray. He ended with the slogan, 'Jai Jyoti Jai Kranti'.

An array of political leaders and his family - wife Rashmi Thackeray and son Aaditya - were on a grand stage designed like a fort by Nitin Desai, an art director from Bollywood. Industrialist Mukesh Ambani, his wife Nita Ambani and son Anant were on the stage.

Also present was Raj Thackeray, Uddhav Thackeray's estranged cousin, invited by him personally on Wednesday evening. Other luminaries in attendance were the NCP founder and president Sharad Pawar, DMK leader MK Stalin, Madhya Pradesh CM Kamal Nath, Congress leaders Abhishek Singhvi, Ahmed Patel and Mallikarjun Kharge.

The Gandhis and Manmohan Singh sent their good wishes. Mamata and Arvind Kejriwal could not make it. Nor could PM Modi despite a personal invite; he merely tweeted his wishes.

Former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who resigned two days ago, after controversy erupted over the manner in which he was furtively sworn in on November 23, was also in attendance.

It was not clear he came in what capacity. Fadnavis's presence was labelled a gesture of courtesy by onlookers. However, there was much booing every time the former CM and BJP leader Chandrakant Patil were shown on the giant screen.

Also present was the man who had been sworn in as Fadnavis’s deputy – Ajit Pawar – who broke ranks with the NCP to help the BJP form a government in Maharashtra.

For Ajit Pawar, it will be an action replay of sorts, as he is likely to be the deputy chief minister again, this time, to Uddhav Thackeray. For Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar, it was the second oath ceremony in under a week; only, it was not theirs this time.

The hasty ‘union’ of Saturday collapsed four days later when Ajit Pawar resigned for ‘personal’ reasons. He had failed to draw NCP MLAs to the BJP's side – and, like the prodigal son, returned to the NCP-fold and his extended family.

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