Maharashtra govt swearing-in on Oct 31 at Wankhede stadium

BJP may stake claim for govt formation on Tuesday after electing its legislature party head in Maharashtra assembly

The swearing-in ceremony for the new Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Maharashtra is slated for Friday at 4 pm at the Wankhede stadium, said party spokesperson Atul Shah. State Governor C Vidyasagar Rao will administer the oath of office and secrecy to the chief minister along with 19 to 27 ministers.

BJP city unit chief Ashish Shelar, along with his party colleagues, on Monday met city police and special protection group officials for security arrangement. Wankhede Stadium’s capacity is about 60,000. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his Cabinet colleagues, party veterans L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, consul generals and representatives from the industrial and business communities will be present at the function.

BJP will convene a meeting of the newly elected legislators on Tuesday evening to elect their leader in the presence of party observers, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and party General Secretary J P Nadda. State unit chief Devendra Fadnavis and Union minister Nitin Gadkari are the frontrunners for the post. However, leader Eknath Khadse has not yet given up his claim. After the meeting, BJP is expected to stake claim to form the government on Tuesday.

A senior official from the Maharashtra legislature said, “After the election of BJP's group leader, the party will stake a claim to form the government in the state. The governor will complete the scrutiny of the list of legislators submitted by the BJP and thereafter send his report to the Centre recommending the lifting of President’s Rule, imposed after Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) withdrew its support to the previous Congress-led government on September 25.”

The official informed the Union Cabinet, which might meet on Wednesday, will make its recommendation to the President.

The BJP, with its strength of 121 (after its legislator from Nanded, Govind Rathod, died on Sunday), has indicated it was prepared to run a minority government with the support of 11 independents and outside support of the Nationalist Congress Party.

BJP has also hinted it will neither go out of way to include its former ally Shiv Sena in the government nor will it initiate any talks in this regard.

A BJP leader recalled the swearing-in ceremony for the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance government in 1995 took place in the Shivaji Park, Dadar, in north-central Mumbai. The function was attended by Shiv Sena supremo late Bal Thackeray and BJP stalwarts, including A B Vajpayee, L K Advani and Pramod Mahajan. Sena leader Manohar Joshi was sworn in as the chief minister, while BJP leader late Gopinath Munde was deputy chief minister.