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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  Devendra Fadnavis sworn in as Maharashtra chief minister
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Devendra Fadnavis sworn in as Maharashtra chief minister

Fadnavis, 9 other ministers were administered the oath of office at Wankhede statdium in the prsence of Prime Minister Modi

Fadnavis is the youngest politician to ascend to the chief minister’s office in Maharashtra after Sharad Pawar, who was 38 when he started his first stint in 1978. Photo: Hindustan TimesPremium
Fadnavis is the youngest politician to ascend to the chief minister’s office in Maharashtra after Sharad Pawar, who was 38 when he started his first stint in 1978. Photo: Hindustan Times

Mumbai: A 10-member Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government led by Devendra Fadnavis assumed office in Maharashtra on Friday with the promise of providing an efficient and transparent administration that would play the role of a “service provider" to the people.

After the swearing-in ceremony attended, among others, by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Fadnavis also expressed confidence that the BJP’s estranged partner Shiv Sena would soon join the government.

“Our government will try to change the outlook of both the bureaucracy and the political executive," Fadnavis told a news conference. “They must realize the government is a service provider to the people..."

At its first meeting, the newly installed cabinet appointed a committee under chief secretary Swadhin Kshatriya to prepare the draft of a Right to Service Act on the lines of Madhya Pradesh. The proposed legislation will create a framework for citizens to take legal action against government officials for failing to provide services they are mandated to, Fadnavis said.

“Another priority of my government is to provide efficient and transparent government; often we see a disconnect between the two. Where there is efficient governance, many times there is no transparency and vice-versa, but people expect both from government," Fadnavis said.

Fadnavis was sworn in as Maharashtra’s 18th chief minister at a public function in the Wankhede Stadium on Friday after the BJP emerged as the single largest party in the state assembly from the 15 October state election. He is the first BJP chief minister of the politically crucial state.

Prominent political leaders, business luminaries, Bollywood and sports personalities were in attendance at the swearing-in ceremony, which was preceded by a cultural show that featured Maharashtrian song and dance performances.

Fadnavis is the youngest politician to ascend to the chief minister’s office in Maharashtra after Sharad Pawar, who was 38 when he started his first stint in 1978. Having won his fourth consecutive term as a member of the legislative assembly from Nagpur South-West, Fadnavis also became the fourth chief minister from the Vidarbha region.

The other ministers who were sworn in were Eknath Khadse, Sudhir Mungantiwar, Vinod Tawde, Chandrakant Patil, Pankaja Munde, Vishnu Savara, Prakash Mehta, Dilip Kamble and Vidya Thakur. Kamble and Thakur are ministers of state.

In the run-up to the election, the 25-year alliance between the BJP and the Shiv Sena collapsed after they failed to agree on seat-sharing. Fadnavis expressed confidence of a reconciliation between the two parties.

“Today you saw Sena president Uddhav Thackeray and many other senior Sena leaders attended the swearing-in ceremony, contrary to media reports..," he said. “..our talks with Sena over power sharing are progressing in the right direction and soon you will see the outcome."

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) led by Sharad Pawar has offered unilateral and unconditional support to the BJP government, but a section of the latter is in favour of a patch-up with the Shiv Sena, its oldest ally.

Fadnavis claimed that the Congress-NCP government that was ousted in the October election had left the state’s coffers empty.

Implementing the schemes announced by the last government would require a loan of 52,000 crore on top of the 3 trillion Maharashtra has already borrowed, he said, adding that his administration would review the schemes “and see how feasible they are".

His immediate priority should be to provide a leg-up to agriculture in the state, said political commentator Kumar Ketkar.

Agricultural productivity in the state is “much below national average and can be improved through increasing availability of water and increasing the availability of water can only happen through watershed management and not through big irrigation projects," Ketkar said. “If we manage to improve agricultural productivity, it will stop both suicides of farmers and migration of rural population to urban areas."

The last government was hit by allegations of irregularities to the tune of 70,000 crore in the implementation of irrigation schemes.

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Published: 31 Oct 2014, 03:15 PM IST
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