From MK Stalin to Sachin Pilot, leaders from across India attended the swearing-in ceremony of Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray and his ministers
MNS chief Raj Thackeray and former chief minister Manohar Joshi at the swearing-in ceremony on Thursday. Pic/Rane Ashish
The grand swearing-in ceremony of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and his Maha Vikas Aghadi ministers, which took place at Shivaji Park on Thursday evening, saw in attendance dignitaries from various political parties across the country.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief and Uddhav's estranged cousin Raj Thackeray too was present and given a place on the dais. Among others were DMK chief MK Stalin and leader TR Baalu. Former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and former minister Chandrakant Patil also attended the ceremony. Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath and other senior leaders of Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress witnessed the event that took place almost in the backyard of Sena Bhavan in Dadar.
ADVERTISEMENT
Top industrialist like Mukesh Ambani, along with his wife Nita Ambani and their son, were also present. A heavy police bandobast marked the event along with tight security measures surrounding Shivaji Park.
Raj is all smiles
While Raj Thackeray was officially invited for the ceremony by cousin Uddhav, there was speculation that he might not attend. However, the MNS chief along with his wife Sharmila, son Amit, and mother reached Shivaji Park well in time.
He was also seen interacting with other leaders on stage including senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Stalin, and Patel. It also appeared that there was some challenge that the organizing team had to face as the number of dignitaries were more and the number of chairs less. When NCP leader Ajit Pawar reached the stage he seemed unhappy as some chairs were occupied allegedly by police officials in plain clothes.
When Raj Thackeray also reached the stage he first sat on a chair next to Sena's Gajanan Kirtikar and Congress MLA Amit Deshmukh, but later NCP leader Nawab Malik made him sit next to Manohar Joshi on the extreme left of the stage. The chair where Raj sat was earlier occupied by senior Shiv Sena leader Liladhar Dake.
Awaaz violates decibel levels
Sumaira Abdulali measures the decibel levels at the oath-taking ceremony
Sumaira Abdulali from Awaaz Foundation was present at Shivaji Park to record the decibel levels of the oath-taking ceremony. She told mid-day that the levels of permitted noise in the residential zone were violated. "The law is equal for all and I expect that action is taken in line with action taken against any other noise violator. The police are the enforcement authority for noise rules and we expect our government to actively work to enforce rule of law equally for all too. The noise decibel level upto 55db is allowed in residential zone but during the oath-taking it exceeded this," said Abdulali.
Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
