india

Updated: Nov 28, 2019 01:57 IST

Maharashtra chief minister designate, Uddhav Thackeray has invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to his swearing-in ceremony in Mumbai on Thursday. Shiv Sena chief Uddhav spoke to the prime minister in a late-evening phone call on Wednesday, in addition to an invitation letter that had been sent earlier in the day to the PM, said news agency ANI.

Uddhav is to be sworn in at 6.40 pm on Thursday at Dadar’s Shivaji Park, famous for his father and Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray’s annual Dussehra rallies.

The invite comes days after Shiv Sena broke its three-decade-long partnership with the BJP and formed a new alliance with its former rivals, the NCP and the Congress, in order to bag the chief minister’s position in the state.

BJP and Shiv Sena had fought the state elections together and were comfortably placed to form a new government but Shiv Sena’s insistence for sharing the chief minister’s position led to a stalemate and eventually the break-up.

The Sena-BJP relationship dipped even further after BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis was suddenly sworn-in as Maharashtra chief minister in the early hours of last Saturday morning, along with NCP’s Ajit Pawar as his deputy.

The surprise development came hours after Uddhav Thackeray was chosen as the chief minister-designate by the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress legislators in a Friday late evening meeting. Fadnavis’ surprise anointment as the CM led to Shiv Sena and its allies accusing the BJP of power grab by misusing the governor’s office.

Shiv Sena challenged Fadnavis’ appointment in the Supreme Court, which ordered the BJP government to prove its majority in the Assembly on Wednesday, leading to Ajit Pawar and Devendra Fadnavis resigning and paving the way for Uddhav’s elevation as the new Maharashtra chief minister.

It is routine courtesy for the prime minister to be invited for swearing-in ceremonies of chief ministers.

All Congress chief ministers, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, DMK chief MK Stalin, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Congress president Sonia Gandhi have also been invited for Uddhav Thackeray’s oath taking ceremony.