Maharashtra News: Uddhav Thackeray Meets Governor, Oath At Mumbai's Shivaji Park Tomorrow

Maharashtra: The Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress combine will form government

Highlights

Newly-elected Maharashtra MLAs taking oath in a special session
Supriya Sule greeted them as they came to assembly
She also touched feet of her cousin Ajit Pawar

Mumbai: Uddhav Thackeray will be sworn in tomorrow at Mumbai's sprawling Shivaji Park as Chief Minister of a Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government after Devendra Fadnavis resigned as Chief Minister and Ajit Pawar as his deputy, ahead of a trust vote ordered by the Supreme Court. Mr Thackeray and his wife Rashmi met Governor Bhagat Singh Koshiyari this morning. Minutes earlier, Ajit Pawar, in a grand "ghar wapsi" or homecoming, was received - after his brief rebellion against uncle Sharad Pawar - with a warm hug from his daughter Supriya Sule as she welcomed MLAs of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) before their oath in the Maharashtra assembly this morning.

Here's your 10-point cheatsheet to this big story:

Newly-elected MLAs were sworn in more than a month after the Maharashtra election, in which no party won a majority. The Supreme Court had ordered the Governor to arrange their oath immediately and appoint a pro-tem or interim Speaker to oversee the proceedings. Interim Speaker Kalidas Kolambkar is overseeing the oath ceremony.
Uddhav Thackeray will be sworn in as the new Chief Minister tomorrow at Shivaji Park, a traditional venue for Shiv Sena events including founder Bal Thackeray's Dussehra rallies.
Devendra Fadnavis resigned on Tuesday after the Supreme Court ordered him to prove his majority by today. Ajit Pawar, who had failed to make good on his promise of pulling in NCP MLAs to help the BJP reach a majority, quit soon after.
"I had never dreamed of leading the state. I would like to thank (Congress president) Sonia Gandhi and others," Uddhav Thackeray said after being elected to lead the Sena-NCP-Congress alliance or "Maha Vikas Aghadi". He met the Governor on Tuesday evening and staked claim to form government.
Mr Thackeray will have to become a member of the Maharashtra Assembly or the Legislative Council within six months of taking oath as Chief Minister. Sources say the Sena chief, who has never contested an election, is likely to take the Council route.
Ajit Pawar's overnight switch had enabled a stunning early morning government formation by the BJP on Saturday, hours after the rival alliance had announced its intentions to take power. Ajit Pawar had been present at the Sena-NCP-Congress meetings but was seen taking oath with Devendra Fadnavis.
The BJP, which won 105 seats in the 288-member Maharashtra assembly, needed 40 more MLAs to prove a majority. The party had banked on Ajit Pawar to bring in 54 NCP MLAs, but the gamble didn't pay; hardly anyone followed "Ajit-Dada" and remained with NCP chief Sharad Pawar.
"Ajit Pawar gave me his resignation. He told me he was resigning because of personal reasons. BJP had decided from the first day we will not indulge in horse-trading. We only decided to form government because NCP was with us. Since he has resigned, we don't have the numbers. So I have also decided to resign," Mr Fadnavis told reporters. After resigning, Ajit Pawar met with Sharad Pawar in a sign of reconciliation within the Pawar family and the party. "I was never away," Ajit Pawar told NDTV this morning.
The rapid political changes came after the Supreme Court, responding to a petition challenging the BJP government formation, ordered an "immediate" floor test, to be telecast live. "If the floor test is delayed, there is a possibility of horse-trading, it becomes incumbent upon the Court to act to protect democratic values," said the court.
Maharashtra will have a Sena chief minister after 20 years but a Thackeray as Chief Minister for the first time. In the election last month, Uddhav Thackeray's son Aaditya became the first of his family to ever contest the election.