Chavan, Pawar to be sworn in Thursday

PTI

Mumbai, 11 November 2010: Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan will be sworn in on Thursday as Maharashtra Chief Minister and the Nationalist Congress Party’s Ajit Pawar his deputy.

 

The ceremony will be held at Raj Bhawan at 4.30 pm, official sources said. Governor K. Sankaranarayanan will administer the oath of office and secrecy.

 

Mr. Chavan, a technocrat-politician, was on Wednesday selected as the State’s new Chief Minister with the NCP also mirroring the change bringing in Sharad Pawar’s nephew Mr. Ajit Pawar as his deputy replacing popular OBC leader Chhagan Bhujbal.

 

Mr. Chavan said in New Delhi that he and his new deputy Mr. Ajit Pawar would provide an “able” leadership and “clean and transparent” administration to the State.

 

“Some mistakes have occurred following which the party high command has taken certain decisions. The inquiry is on and I will see when the report comes,” he told reporters about the Adarsh housing scam that took the job of his predecessor.

 

He said he complimented Mr. Ajit Pawar on his election as leader of NCP legislature party making him the Deputy Chief Minister-designate.

 

“We will provide an able leadership and clean and transparent administration in Maharashtra,” the 64-year-old leader said before departing for Mumbai.

 

Mr. Chavan met a number of leaders on Wednesday including Mr. Sharad Pawar, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.