59-year-old Uddhav Thackeray will be the 18th chief minister of Maharashtra

Mumbai, Nov 27: Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray will take oath as the 18th chief minister of Maharashtra on Thursday. Thackeray, 59, will be the third Sena leader after Manohar Joshi and Narayan Rane to occupy the top post.

Thackeray would be taking over as chief minister more than a month after results of the Maharashtra Assembly elections were declared on October 24.

The weeks following the results saw political equations in the state turning topsy-turvy.

Soon after the results came in, Thackeray reminded the ally BJP of its promise to share the CM's post. But BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis denied that such a promise had been made. An enraged Thackeray called off government formation talks, saying he could not tolerate being dubbed liar.

The falling apart of the saffron combine led to the formation of an unlikely alliance between the Sena on one hand and ideologically divergent Congress and NCP on the other. NCP chief Sharad Pawar -- seen as the architect of the new alliance -- himself has been chief minister of Maharashtra four times.

He became CM for the first time on July 18, 1978, when he toppled the Congress government to form a new government under the Progressive Democratic Front alliance. This government lasted till February 17, 1980, when then prime minister Indira Gandhi dissolved it.

Pawar was again CM from June 25, 1988, to March 3, 1990, after he returned to the Congress. His third tenure lasted from March 4, 1990, to June 25, 1991, when he joined the Narasimha Rao cabinet as defence minister. He was sent back to the state after the Mumbai riots, and was CM from March 6, 1993, to March 13, 1995.

Late Vasantdada Patil of the Congress was chief minister four times -- From April 19, 1977, to March 6, 1978; March 7 to July 17, 1978 (when Pawar toppled his government; February 2, 1983, to March 9, 1985, and again from March 10 1985, to June 1, 1985.

The first chief minister of Maharashtra after its formation in 1960 was Yashwantrao Chavan. He held the post from May 1, 1960, to November 20, 1962, when he was appointed defence minister in the aftermath of the war with China.

Marotrao Kannamwar was the second chief minister, from November 21, 1962, till his death on November 24, 1963.

P B Sawant was acting chief minister from November 25 to December 4, 1963.

Vasantrao Naik held the post from December 5, 1963, to February 20, 1975. No other chief minister enjoyed such a continuous tenure of 11 years.

Shankarrao Chavan was chief minister from February 21, 1975, to April 16, 1977. He became CM again on March 14, 1986, and remained in the post till June 24, 1988.

A R Antulay was chief minister from June 9, 1980, to January 12, 1982. Antulay, the only Muslim CM of the state so far, had to step down over corruption charges. Babasaheb Bhosale was chief minister from January 20, 1982, to February 1, 1983.

Shivajirao Patil Nilangekar was chief minister from June 3, 1985, to March 7, 1986. Sudhakarrao Naik was chief minister from June 25, 1991, to February 23, 1993. Manohar Joshi was chief minister from March 14, 1995, to January 30, 1999.

Narayan Rane became chief minister on February 1, 1999, when Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray decided to replace Joshi. Rane remained in the post till October 17, 1999, when the Sena-BJP government decided to advance assembly elections.

Vilasrao Deshmukh took over as CM leading a Congress- NCP alliance government on October 18, 1999, and continued till January 18, 2003. He returned as chief minister on November 1, 2004, but resigned on December 7, 2008, after the 26/11 terror attacks. Sushilkumar Shinde was chief minister from January 18, 2003, to October 31, 2004. Ashok Chavan took over from Deshmukh on December 8, 2008. His first term lasted till November 6, 2009. He continued as chief minister after Assembly polls but resigned in November 2010 over Adarsh Housing Society scam.

Prithviraj Chavan was chief minister from November 10, 2010, to September 27, 2014. Devendra Fadnavis, the first BJP chief minister of the state, has two records against his name. He became the first CM of Maharashtra after Vasantrao Naik to complete a full term, from October 31, 2014, to November 9, 2019.

However, he also earned the dubious distinction of being chief minister with the shortest tenure in his second term. He took oath on November 23, 2019, but resigned on November 26 when the Supreme Court ordered a floor test.

It became clear on Tuesday that NCP's Ajit Pawar, who had crossed over to prop up BJP-led government and was sworn in as deputy CM, could not split the NCP to get the numbers. In terms of a number of terms, Thackeray will be the 28th chief minister of the state.