Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray was sworn in as Maharashtra chief minister on November 28, heading an alliance with the Congress and the NCP.

Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari administered oath to Thackeray and six ministers at the sprawling Shivaji Park in Mumbai, venue of the Sena’s Dussehra rallies.

Eknath Shinde, Subhash Desai (both Shiv Sena), Jayant Patil, Chhagan Bhujbal (both NCP), Balasaheb Thorat and Nitin Raut (both Congress) were sworn in as ministers.

Thackeray took oath as chief minister a month after the results of the October 21 Assembly elections were declared on October 24.

Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress formed the government after the Thackeray-led party fell out with pre-poll ally BJP over sharing the chief ministerial post.

The BJP emerged as the single largest party winning 105 seats. Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress won 56, 54 and 44 seats respectively in the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly.

The swearing-in ceremony came after days of dramatic developments, which included a four-day government formed by BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis with unexpected support from NCP leader Ajit Pawar, who has since returned to the Sharad Pawar-led party fold.

Third CM from Shiv Sena

An ace photographer, Thackeray is the third Sena chief minister after Manohar Joshi and Narayan Rane (both in the 1990s), and the first member of the Thackeray family to hold the top post in the country’s richest state.

Thackeray, 59, otherwise considered an affable, mild-mannered politician, displayed combative traits of his father, Sena founder Bal Thackeray, in dealing with one-time senior ally BJP on the demand for rotational chief ministership just after the election results.

Thackeray will now have to prove his credentials as a leader who can navigate a new political path with ideologically different parties like the Congress and the NCP, partners in the Sena-led ruling coalition, the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA).

Though in politics for long, Thackeray has never contested an election or held a public post and it will be interesting to watch how he learns the ropes of governance in a state which is an economic powerhouse and home to the financial capital of the country.

Thackeray largely lived in the shadows of his legendary father before coming on his own after being appointed the Sena working president in January 2003.

Thackeray formally took over as the chief of the Sena, founded in 1966 to fight for the rights of Marathi people, after his father died in 2012.

The 19th chief minister of Maharashtra

Thackeray is the 19th chief minister of Maharashtra. In terms of number of terms, he is the 29th chief minister of the state.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar - seen as the architect of the alliance - himself has been chief minister of Maharashtra four times.

He became the CM for the first time on July 18, 1978, when he toppled the Congress government to form a new government under the Progressive Democratic Front alliance.

This government lasted till February 17, 1980, when the then prime minister, Indira Gandhi, dissolved it. Pawar was again the CM from June 25, 1988, to March 3, 1990 after he returned to the Congress.

His third tenure lasted from March 4, 1990 to  June 25, 1991, when he joined the Narasimha Rao cabinet as defence minister. He was sent back to the state after the Mumbai riots, and was the CM from March 6, 1993 to March 13, 1995.

Vasantdada Patil of the Congress was chief minister four times.

The first CM of Maharashtra after its formation in 1960 was Yashwantrao Chavan. He held the post from May 1, 1960 to November 20, 1962, when he was appointed defence minister in the aftermath of war with China.

Marotrao Kannamwar was the second chief minister, from November 21, 1962, till his death on November 24, 1963. P.B. Sawant was acting chief minister from November 25 to December 4, 1963.

Vasantrao Naik held the post from December 5, 1963 to February 20, 1975. No other CM enjoyed such a continuous tenure of 11 years.

Shankarrao Chavan was chief minister from February 21, 1975 to April 16, 1977. He became CM again on March 14, 1986 and remained in the post till June 24, 1988.

A.R. Antulay was the CM from June 9, 1980 to January 12, 1982. Antulay, the only Muslim CM of the state so far, had to step down over corruption charges.

Babasaheb Bhosale was the CM from January 20, 1982 to February 1, 1983. Shivajirao Patil Nilangekar was the CM from June 3, 1985 to March 7, 1986.

Sudhakarrao Naik was the chief minister from June 25, 1991 to February 23, 1993.

Manohar Joshi was the CM from March 14, 1995 to January 30, 1999.

Narayan Rane became the CM on February 1, 1999 when Bal Thackeray decided to replace Joshi. Rane remained in the post till October 17, 1999 when the Sena-BJP government decided to advance the Assembly election.

Vilasrao Deshmukh took over as CM leading a Congress-NCP alliance government on October 18, 1999 and continued till January 18, 2003. He returned as chief minister on November 1, 2004, but resigned on December 7, 2008, after the 26/11 terror attacks.

Sushilkumar Shinde was the CM from January 18, 2003 to October 31, 2004.

Ashok Chavan took over from Deshmukh on December 8, 2008. His first term lasted till November 6, 2009. He continued as CM after the Assembly polls, but resigned in November 2010 over the Adarsh Housing Society scam.

Prithviraj Chavan was chief minister from November 10, 2010 to September 27, 2014.

Fadnavis, the first BJP chief minister of the state, has two records against his name.

He became the first CM of Maharashtra after Vasantrao Naik to complete a full term, from October 31, 2014 to November 9, 2019.

However, he also earned the dubious distinction of being the CM with the shortest tenure in his second term. He took oath on November 23, but resigned on November 26 when the Supreme Court ordered a floor test.

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