MUMBAI: The BJP on Wednesday said it would send swearing-in invites to all the elected candidates but is apparently less enthusiastic about inviting Uddhav Thackeray, chief of its ally, the Shiv Sena.
“We are ready with an invitation card for him, but it will be interesting to see who receives our messenger at the Thackerays’ residence,” a BJP official said.
Chief Minister-designate Devendra Fadnavis has called up NCP supremo Sharad Pawar and MNS president Raj Thackeray to invite them to the Friday ceremony.
And A-listers including Sachin Tendulkar, Mukesh Ambani, Anil Ambani, Marathi and Bollywood actors have already been invited to the inauguration of the saffron party’s first government in Maharashtra, which around 40,000 people are expected to attend.
The BJP has roped in noted Bollywood art director Nitin Desai to make the swearing-in a grand event.
Express reported on Tuesday that the party had planned to use a theme titled “lotus blooms in the sea” for the event at Wankhede Stadium, where Fadnavis will take the oath of office.
The party has instructed Desai to create an ambience of Chhatrapati Shivaji’s era. The idea is in accordance with the party’s election campaign slogan “Chhatrapati Ka Aashirwaad, Chalo Chale Modi Ke Saath”.
Desai said he would depict Maharashtra as it was 350 years ago at the time of Shivaji’s coronation. “We will also portray the modern Maharashtra and try to create an impression that the government will do something big,” he said.
The Chief Minister-designate’s banker wife, Amruta Ranade Fadnavis, has said that she will continue her job with Axis Bank as its associate vice president. She will soon seek a transfer from Nagpur to Mumbai.
Amruta hoped that Deven, as she calls her husband, would bring back the state on the path of development. “It will be a tough job, but I am sure he will deliver,” she said.
And Fadnavis’ youngest child, six-year-old daughter Divija, will beat the NCP’s Supriya Sule as the youngest occupant of the Chief Minister’s official residence, Varsha, at Mumbai’s plush Malabar Hill.
At nine, Sule had stayed at Varsha when her father Sharad Pawar became Chief Minister at the age of 38 in 1978.
Sena Defers its Decision to join
The Shiv Sena on Wednesday deferred its decision on joining the BJP Government in after several rounds of meetings. Party chief Uddhav Thackeray’s son Aditya said that the party would consider joining the government if the BJP gave a “respectable” proposal.