Mumbai, Oct 31 : Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Devendra Fadnavis on Friday took oath as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra. He took the oath of office in Marathi in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several other BJP stalwarts at a grand function in Wankhede Stadium here.

The 44-year-old Fadnavis, a four-term MLA from Nagpur, exchanged pleasantries with Maharashtra Governor C. Vidyasagar Rao after taking the oath of office. Fadnavis today became the first leader from the BJP to head the state government.

Eknath Khadse, Vinod Tawde, Prakash Mehta, Chandrakant Patil, Pankaja Munde, Vishnu Savra, Dilip Kamble and Vidya Thakur were also sworn-in on the occasion, which was attended by several central ministers including Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, the chief ministers of BJP-ruled states, corporate leaders, Bollywood stars and other celebrities. The new members of Fadnavis-led Cabinet later took blessings from Prime Minister Modi.

BJP veteran Lal Krishna Advani, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, party chief Amit Shah, NCP leaders Ajit Pawar, Chhagan Bhujbal and Praful Patel, former Maharashtra chief minister Prithiviraj Chavan and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N. Chandrababu Naidu were also among those present on the occasion.

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, who had earlier decided to boycott the event, was also present during the swearing-in-ceremony. He was seated next to Union Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu.

It may be recalled that the BJP and Shiv Sena snapped their 25-year alliance in September ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly polls over a seat-sharing disagreement.

Giant posters of Prime Minister Modi, BJP veteran Lal Krishna Advani and party chief Amit Shah were put on display around the stadium.

Over 2,500 security personnel had been deployed in and around Wankhede Stadium. Over 1,000 traffic policemen had been deployed to ensure the smooth movement of VIP and VVIP vehicles around the stadium and along the roads leading to the venue from domestic airport.

The BJP had emerged as the single largest party in the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly with 122 seats, but one of its MLAs Govind Rathod died. The Shiv Sena finished second with 63 seats. The NCP, which emerged victorious in 41 seats, has offered the BJP 'external support' to form the government in the state. (ANI)