Uddhav agreed to attend the ceremony after last-minute calls by Shah and Fadnavis himself, inviting him to the event. Sena leaders have been complaining of constant humiliation of their MLAs by BJP for some time. Shiv Sena MP Vinayak Raut confirmed Friday that Uddhav would attend the swearing in later in the evening.
BJP had sent out invites to Shiv Sena chief Thackeray, NCP chief Sharad Pawar and former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan for the event.
“We have constantly been humiliated by the BJP, which has not gone down well with our MLAs. As our MLAs feel that BJP did not give us due respect, why should we attend the oath-taking ceremony?” Raut had said.
Earlier on Thursday, BJP general secretary Rajiv Pratap Rudy had said that it was unlikely that anybody from Shiv Sena will be sworn in.
“Talks with Sena are on in an amicable atmosphere…but there has been no outcome yet,” he had said provoking the Sena to announce its decision of boycotting the event.
Fadnavis, a four-term MLA from Nagpur, will be administered the oath of office by governor C Vidyasagar Rao at Wankhede Stadium in presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, several of his Cabinet colleagues, chief ministers of BJP-ruled states, corporate leaders, Bollywood stars and other celebrities in a lavish ceremony.
The BJP had emerged as the single largest party in the 288-member Maharashtra assembly with 122 seats, but one of its MLAs Govind Rathod died. The Shiv Sena finished second with 63 seats. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which emerged victorious in 41 seats, has offered the BJP ‘external support’ to form the government in the state.
