Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday took oath as a Member of the State Legislative Council at a function held here at the assembly building. Thackeray was chosen as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra in November but he was not a member of either Houses in the state legislature.
Uddhav Thackeray took the oath of office along with eight other candidates belonging to the ruling and opposition parties who were all elected unopposed to the state Legislative Council on Thursday.
Uddhav Thackeray’s unopposed election to the legislature comes after weeks of uncertainty when he finally dialled up PM Narendra Modi seeking his intervention to conduct the MLC elections.
The MLC elections in Maharashtra were postponed, citing the coronavirus crisis. However, the Shiv Sena-led alliance alleged vested interests in the Opposition were trying to create instability.
Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar, Chairman, Maharashtra Legislative Council, administered the oath to Thackeray and eight others who were elected unopposed to the upper house last week.
Apart from Thackeray, Deputy Chairperson of the Council Neelam Gorhe from the Shiv Sena, BJP’s MLCs Ranjitsinh Mohite Patil, Gopichand Padalkar, Praveen Datke and Ramesh Karad, the Nationalist Congress Party’s Shashikant Shinde and Amol Mitkari and Rajesh Rathod of the Congress were sworn in as members. All the MLCs were elected from the 288 members of the state Legislative Assembly.
