This would be the first time Azad Maidan would have a Chief Minister’s oath-taking ceremony, which gives more weight to the fact that Devendra Fadnavis is returning as chief minister of the state.
Mumbai: A new role awaits Mumbai’s iconic Azad Maidan Thursday evening – a decades-old silent witness to the city’s turbulent political and socio-cultural history, dating back to protests against the British Raj – for, at 5.30 pm, Devendra Fadnavis will be sworn in as Chief Minister of Maharashtra.
This will be the first time the Azad Maidan hosts a Chief Minister’s oath-taking ceremony. Its popularity and location have added more heft to Mr Fadnavis’s return to the state’s top slot.
The last time he held the reins, he was sworn in at Raj Bhavan, the Governor’s residence. That was after a stormy few hours following Mr Fadnavis’s defeat in the October 2019 election and his compulsion to step down as Chief Minister, two successive failed power grabs within two months after November.
This time, he returns in style; a grand ceremony made grander with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on stage and 42,000 guests looking on awaits Mr. Fadnavis this evening.
Therefore, much of the attention will understandably be on the senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and, possibly, Shiv Sena boss Eknath Shinde if he, as is expected, accepts a deputy’s role.
