In the Maharashtra Assembly elections held in October, BJP and Shiv Sena contested the polls together and got 105 and 56 seats, respectively. However, the two parties had a fallout over power-sharing of the chief ministerial post
Mumbai: Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray is all set to take oath as the chief minister of Maharashtra on Thursday, capping off a month-long political drama in the state following the Assembly elections.
Thackeray will be the first member of his family to occupy the top post and the third from Shiv Sena after Manohar Joshi and Narayan Rane. He will take oath at Shivaji Park at 6:40 pm.
According to reports, as he takes over the chief minister's post, Thackeray's priority would be to address farmers' grievances amongst other issues and to keep the flock together. He will also be heading the newly formed Maha Vikas Aghadi, an alliance of Shiv Sena, NCP, and Congress.
Born on July 27, 1960, in Mumbai, Thackeray is the son of late Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray and is a graduate from JJ School of Arts and a published author. He is also a professional photographer whose work has appeared in various magazines and had been showcased at numerous exhibitions.
Thackeray is also the editor-in-chief of "Saamana", a prominent Marathi newspaper which was founded by his father. He was handed over the responsibility of managing the party during the 2002 Brihanmumbai municipal corporation elections.
The 59-year-old was appointed as the working president of the party in 2003. In 2004, Bal Thackeray announced him as the next party chief.
Having entered politics at a late age, Uddhav has had a short span of time to prove his mettle in his party and the state. Under his capable guidance, his party swept several local and state elections.
The chief minister-designate has also expanded the party base and network across the state, including local bodies and zilla parishads.
Earlier, Thackeray asserted that the chief minister's post would be on a rotational basis, with BJP ruling the first half of the five-year term and Sena completing the last half. However, the BJP rejected Sena's claim, saying no such agreement was finalised before the elections and made it clear that Fadnavis would be the chief minister for full five years.
Thackeray then severed his party's 30-year-old ties with BJP and entered into talks with Congress and NCP, two ideologically different parties, charting an unlikely alliance.
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