Rajnath congratulates Uddhav Thackeray on taking oath as Maha CM

Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday congratulated Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on taking oath as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra.

"Congratulations to Uddhav Thackeray on taking oath as Maharashtra's Chief Minister. I hope he will work towards fulfilling the people's aspirations and take Maharashtra forward on the road to development," Singh's tweet read.

Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Jaya Bachchan also remembered her close ties with Uddhav Thackeray's family and congratulated him on his oath-taking.

"Thackeray family and we share a deep and old relationship. My heartiest congratulations to him (Uddhav) on becoming Chief Minister. I sincerely hope he works towards the betterment of Maharashtra, provides relief to farmers and gives youth employment," Bachchan tweeted.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also chipped in and tweeted, "Congratulations and best wishes to Uddhav Thackerayji on being sworn in as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra."

Thackeray took over as chief minister over a month after the results of the Maharashtra elections were announced.

Apart from Thackeray, six leaders -- two each from Congress, Shiv Sena, and NCP -- took oath as ministers in Maharashtra's alliance government. They were administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari at Shivaji Park here.

Congress' Balasaheb Thorat and Nitin Raut, NCP's Jayant Rajaram Patil, and Chhagan Chandrakant Bhujbal took oath as ministers. From Shiv Sena, Eknath Shinde and Subhash Desai were sworn in as ministers.

Uddhav is the first member of the Thackeray family to become the Chief Minister of Maharashtra and the third Shiv Sena leader to hold the top post after Manohar Joshi and Narayan Rane.

( With inputs from ANI )