Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray Oath Ceremony HIGHLIGHTS: Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray Thursday assured the people of good governance in the state. "I want to help the farmers in a manner which will make them happy," he said after chairing the first cabinet meeting of newly-sworn MLAs of the Congress-NCP-Shiv Sena combine. Uddhav, 59, is the 19th chief minister of the state and third from the Shiv Sena. The youngest of Bal Thackeray’s three children, Uddhav was an unlikely candidate to helm the Shiv Sena. Though he has organizational experience, he has not held any official position so far and may face challenge from the stalwarts of the Congress and NCP in the government’s functioning. Among those present at his oath-taking ceremony were DMK Chief MK Stalin, Madhya Pradesh CM Kamal Nath, Congress' Ahmed Patel, Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Mallikarjun Kharge, and MNS chief Raj Thackeray. Senior Congress leaders Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi, and Rahul Gandhi, however, chose to skip the event. Earlier in the day, the Sena-Congress-NCP combine released their Common Minimum Program, with attention to farmers' crisis, unemployment, and health and industry sectors in the state. The preamble of the CMP assures that the three-party coalition commits to "uphold the secular values enshrined in the Constitution."
