400 Farmers, Sonia Gandhi Invited To Uddhav Thackeray's Oath Ceremony

Family members of farmers who committed suicide have also been invited. It was done to give respect to the farmers, Raut told news agency ANI today.

Thackeray will be sworn in as chief minister of Maharashtra at Shivaji Park in Dadar in central Mumbai on Thursday evening. He will be the first person from the Thackeray family to become the chief minister.

Eknath Shinde, the leader of Shiv Sena's legislature party, said the party has invited Congress president Sonia Gandhi for the swearing-in ceremony.

Meanwhile, the Bombay High Court on Wednesday raised security concerns over the event at Shivaji Park and said holding such functions at a public ground should not become a "regular feature", PTI reported.

"We do not want to say anything about tomorrow's ceremony...we are only praying that nothing untoward happens," the court said while hearing a plea of NGO Wecom Trust on whether the Shivaji Park was a playground or a recreation ground.

The court raised concerns over the security aspect, saying lakhs of people will gather for the ceremony, scheduled for 6:40 pm on Thursday.

"You (authorities) have to also consider security aspect. You cannot put everybody's lives at risk," the court said.

The high court had in 2010 declared the area as a 'silence zone' after the PIL was filed by the NGO.

However, the state government and the Mumbai civic body later carved out 45-days in a year to permit non-sporting activities in the ground.

The bench posted the petition for further hearing on December 12 and sought response from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the state government on its policies on allowing non-sporting activities at the Shivaji Park.

The Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress on Tuesday named Thackeray as their chief ministerial nominee after the four-day-old government led by Devendra Fadnavis collapsed.