'Sea' has returned to Maharashtra once again. BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis took oath as Chief Minister of Maharashtra for the third time. In a ceremony held at Azad Maidan in Mumbai, Maharashtra Governor CP Radhakrishnan administered the oath of office to Fadnavis as Chief Minister, Eknath Shinde-Ajit Pawar as Deputy CM. After the landslide victory of the Mahayuti alliance in the elections, a statement of Fadnavis went viral. After the defeat in the 2019 assembly elections, during the assembly session, Devendra Fadnavis had said in a poetic style that 'Seeing my water receding, do not settle down on my shore. I am the sea, I will come back.' There was a lot of tussle with Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde over the post of Chief Minister, but ultimately Fadnavis won.

Who all attended the swearing-in ceremony?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah as well as Chief Ministers of many BJP-ruled states also attended the swearing-in ceremony of Devendra Fadnavis. UP CM Yogi Adityanath, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami, Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu, Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, JP Nadda, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Chirag Paswan also attended.

These celebrities also attended

Mukesh Ambani, Anant Ambani, Radhika Merchant, Anil Ambani, Kumar Mangalam Birla, Sanjay Dutt, Salman Khan, Shahrukh Khan, Sachin Tendulkar, Ranbir Kapoor, Ranbir Singh, Madhuri Dixit also became a part of Devendra Fadnavis' swearing-in ceremony.

BJP's massive victory

There was suspense over the post of Chief Minister for about two weeks after the assembly elections were held in Maharashtra on November 20 and the results were announced on November 23, but finally Devendra Fadnavis managed to leave Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde behind. Fadnavis (54) emerged as a strong contender for the post after BJP emerged as the strongest with 132 seats in the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly elections. He represents the Nagpur South West constituency. The BJP-led Mahayuti alliance, along with its allies Shiv Sena and NCP, has 230 seats in the Assembly.

Before the swearing-in ceremony, Fadnavis also offered prayers at the Siddhivinayak temple. On Wednesday, Fadnavis met Governor CP Radhakrishnan along with Shinde and Pawar to stake a formal claim to form the government and submitted letters of support from the allies. Earlier on Wednesday, Fadnavis was elected the leader of the BJP Legislature Party in a meeting.

Fadnavis has been the Chief Minister twice before
Fadnavis has been the Chief Minister twice. He led the BJP-Shiv Sena government for 5 years from 2014 to 2019. After this, after the 2019 elections, when the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena broke ties with the BJP over the post of Chief Minister, Fadnavis later took oath as the Chief Minister and Ajit Pawar became the Deputy Chief Minister. But this government lasted only 72 hours, because Ajit Pawar could not get the support of a sufficient number of NCP MLAs.

He became Deputy CM in the previous government
When the Mahayuti government led by Shinde came to power after a split in the Shiv Sena, Fadnavis became the Deputy Chief Minister. Later, Ajit Pawar separated after a split in the Sharad Pawar-led NCP and he joined this Mahayuti government as the second Deputy CM. Ajit Pawar (65) will take oath as Deputy Chief Minister for the sixth time.

How was Fadnavis' political journey?
Born on 22 July 1970 in Nagpur, Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis became the National Vice President of BJP Yuva Morcha in the year 2001. In the year 1992, he was elected to the post of councilor for the first time. After this he never looked back. In the year 2013, he became the President of the state unit of BJP in Maharashtra. In the year 2014, it was the first time when Fadnavis became the Chief Minister. After this, he also became the Chief Minister of the state in the year 2019. In 2022, it was the first time when he was made Deputy CM.