West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been invited to the swearing-in of Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray as new chief minister of Maharashtra, who snapped ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party, in Mumbai tomorrow. sources in Mamata’s office said in Kolkata on Wednesday that the invitation to Banerjee, who is a known detractor of the BJP, for the Thursday oath taking reached the office on Wednesday afternoon, they said.
Whether Mamata will attend the swearing-in is yet to be confirmed, the sources said. Thackeray will be sworn in as the 17th chief minister of Maharashtra at a grand ceremony, two days after the BJP-led government, which was formed with the support of NCP leader Ajit Pawar on November 23, collapsed on Tuesday afternoon when Devendra Fadnavis stepped down as chief minister.
The Shiv Sena was the BJP’s oldest Hindutva ally before they parted ways on the issue of chief ministership after last month’s assembly elections in which the two parties together secured comfortable majority in the 288-member House. The Shiv Sena then turned to the NCP and the Congress for a coalition to take power in Maharashtra.