MCA offers Wankhede free of cost for swearing-in

Sharad Pawar-led Mumbai Cricket Association will charge no fee for lending Wankhede Stadium for hosting the swearing-in ceremony of the first Bharatiya Janata Party government in Maharashtra on October 31.

44-year-old Devendra Fadnavis, who was on Tuesday elected leader of the BJP Legislature Party, will take oath of office along with few others in an impressive ceremony at the stadium which will host a government function for the first time.

“Since it is a government function, we are not going to charge anything,” MCA joint secretary Nitin Dalal said.

He said state’s Chief Secretary Swadheen Kshatriya had approached MCA chief executive officer C S Naik a few days ago with a request to allow the venue to be used for swearing-in of the new government which the association acceded to.

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Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party with 41 MLAs has offered outside support to BJP, which has emerged as the largest party in the 288-member assembly for the first time with 122 seats, in forming the government.

Though usually such events are held at Raj Bhavan, the Shiv Sena-BJP government led by Manohar Joshi was sworn-in at a function at ShivajiPark in 1995.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, several of his cabinet colleagues, chief ministers of BJP-ruled states will attend the ceremony where prominent industrialists and Bollywood celebrities are also likely to be present.

According to BJP sources, about 30,000 people are expected to be present at the event for which art director Nitin Desai has been hired to create the decor.

Image: Maharashtra CM-designate Devendra Fadnavis will be take the oath of office at the Wankhede Stadium.