Widespread celebrations began across parts of Maharashtra shortly after Devendra Fadnavis and NCP's Ajit Pawar took oath as the chief minister and deputy chief minister of the state respectively in the wee hours of Saturday.

Ths is Fadnavis' second consecutive term as Maharashtra chief minister, which also ended month-long uncertainty over the government formation in the state.Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among the early BJP leaders, who congratulated Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar on taking oath as Maharashtra Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister, respectively on Saturday.

"Congratulations to @Dev_Fadnavisji and@AjitPawarSpeaksji on taking oath as the CM and Deputy CM of Maharashtra respectively. I am confident they will work diligently for the bright future of Maharashtra," tweeted PM Modi soon after they took the oath.

BJP chief and Union Home Minister Amit Shah took to Twitterto congratulate Fadnavis and Ajit on the formation of a National DemocraticAlliance (NDA) government in Maharashtra.

"Hearty congratulations to Shri @Dev_Fadnavis ji on taking oath as Chief Minister of Maharashtra and Shri @AjitPawar Speaks as Deputy Chief Minister of the state," Shah tweeted.

On his turn, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said that Fadnavis` return as Chief Minister honours the mandate of the people.

"Congratulations Devendra Fadnavis on becoming the Chief Minister of Maharashtra again. His becoming the CM honours the mandate because `khichdi` (referring to Congress, NCP, Shiv Sena negotiations) was anti-mandate. The people of Maharashtra are victorious. Congratulations tothem," Javadekar tweeted.

Union Minister Piyush Goyal tweeted, "Congratulations to Devendra Fadnavis Ji and Ajit Pawar Ji for taking oath as the CM and DeputyCM of Maharashtra respectively. Under your leadership and good governance, thestate will achieve new heights of development & provide a better future tothe people of Maharashtra."

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and UttarakhandChief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat also congratulated Fadnavis.

"Hearty congratulations to Devendra Fadnavis and AjitPawar for becoming Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra. Iam confident that this government will work with commitment and dedication forpublic welfare and will establish new dimensions of progress and prosperity,"Yogi Adityanath tweeted."Hearty congratulations to Devendra Fadnavis forbecoming the Chief Minister of Maharashtra for the second time. Also,congratulations to Ajit Pawar for taking oath as the Deputy Chief Minister ofthe state. The new government will continue the progress journey of Maharashtraat a faster pace," the Uttarakhand CM said.

Meanwhile, several top leaders from Sharad Pawar-led NCP,Shiv Sena and Congress expressed shock and displeasure over the development andaccused BJP of misusing power and the constitutional authority of the state'sgovernor for forming the government.NCP chief Sharad Pawar clarified that thedecision of going with BJP to form the government in Maharashtra is of hisnephew Ajit Pawar, who took as Deputy Chief Minister today.

"Ajit Pawar`s decision to support the BJP to form theMaharashtra Government is his personal decision and not that of the NationalistCongress Party (NCP). We place on record that we do not support or endorse thisdecision of his," Sharad Pawar tweeted

Meanwhile, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut alleged Ajit Pawarhas betrayed his party chief and political mentor Sharad Pawar and said thatthe latter will regret his decision of joining hands with the BJP.

Congress which suffered a major blow after its ally NCPaligned with the BJP to form the government in Maharashtra on Saturday assertedthat the "tripartite negotiations" which included Shiv Sena shouldnot have been stretched for so long.

Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi taking to twitter saidthat he is still not sure about NCP joining hands with BJP.

"Surreal what I read about #Maharashtra. I thought itwas fake news. Candidly &personally speaking, our tripartite negotiationsshould not have gone on for more than 3 days...took too long. The window givenwas grabbed by fast movers. Pawarji tussi grt ho! Amazing if true, still notsure," Singhvi tweeted.

BJP, with 105 seats, came together with the NationalistCongress Party, which bagged 54 seats, to reach the majority mark.

Earlier on Friday, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar had claimed thatthere was a consensus on Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray as chief minister of thealliance government.