Mumbai, March 6 (IANS): A couple of days before International Women's Day, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had a pleasant surprise for scores of women employees working at the state headquarters 'Mantralaya', here on Friday.

Women staffers at the state secretariat were taken aback when immaculately dressed male colleagues greeted them with a rose and a personal letter from the Chief Minister, appreciating their work.

Many of the surprised recipients of the Chief Minister's unexpected and unprecedented gesture were seen smiling, laughing, and clicking the moment on their mobiles to share with near and dear ones.

The letter itself appeared to be penned with a lot of sentiments and compliments the women for playing multiple roles of daughter, wife, mother, and sister, in their daily lives besides making a valuable contribution to the state's development in their official roles.

"With your cooperation, we shall successfully implement all decisions taken in the interests of the people of Maharashtra," said Thackeray.

"In my 32 years of service, I have never experienced such a warm welcome. Its like a dream," gushed staffer Nishigandha Kuvalekar.

Another staffer Tanvi Sawant said that the Chief Minister's gesture has proved that he does not believe in mere empty slogans of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's ideals but also implements them.

Other employees like Ratna Naik, Jyotsna Kokitkar, Sanjana Khopde, Geeta Ambedkar, Sangeeta Gulhane and others also expressed their pleasure and said Thackeray's gesture instilled in them new energy to fulfill their duties.