New Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, a former Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, took oath in Marathi at his swearing-in ceremony here on Thursday.
Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court Justice Pradeep Nandrajog administered the oath of office to Koshyari at the sea-facing Raj Bhavan here in South Mumbai.
In a surprise to all invitees, Koshyari read out his entire oath in Marathi.
Koshyari replaces Vidyasagar Rao, who was the governor from 2014.
Earlier in the day, Koshyari visited the famous Siddhivinayak temple in central Mumbai and offered prayers.
Soon after taking oath as the 19th Governor of Maharashtra, Koshyari extended his greetings and good wishes to all teachers on the occasion of Teacher's Day.
Incidentally, Koshyari had briefly served as a teacher at a college in Etah, Uttar Pradesh.
More From This Section
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Union Ministers Arvind Sawant and Ramdas Athawale, state Ministers Chandrakant Patil, Vinod Tawde, Eknath Shinde, Subhash Desai, Diwakar Raote and Suresh Khade were present at the ceremony.
Ministers from Uttarakhand - Harak Singh Rawat,Subodh Uniyal,Rekha Arya and Dhan Singh Rawat - also attended the event.
The well-attendd swearing-in ceremony began with the playing of the national anthem by a police band.
Maharashtra Chief Secretary Ajoy Mehta read out the warrant of appointment of Koshyari issued by President Ram Nath Kovind.
Lokayukta of Maharashtra Justice M L Tahiliyani, Right to Services Commissioner Swadhin Kshatriya, State Election Commissioner U P S Madan, DGP Subodh Jaiswal, Mumbai police commissioner Sanjay Barve, University of Mumbai Vice Chancellor Suhas Pednekar, SNDT Womens University Vice Chancellor Shashikala Wanjari were prominent among those present.