Maharashtra Cabinet expansion: Ajit Pawar may be Deputy CM as 36 ministers likely to take oath today
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A month after the NCP-Congress-Shiv Sena coalition formed government in Maharashtra, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's cabinet expansion is set to take place on Monday. A total of 36 ministers, including Cabinet Minister and Minister of State ranks, are expected to take oath today. Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari will administer the oath to the new ministers at 1 PM in the Maharashtra Legislature precinct.
The development was confirmed by Maharashtra Minister and Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat who said that 12 ministers from his party will take oath on Monday. He added that out of 12, 10 will take oath as cabinet ministers. "The list has been finalised for the oath ceremony to be held on Monday. It will be out today. There will be 12 ministers from Congress, out of which 10 are of cabinet rank," he said.
Leaders of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition have been in talks over the Maharashtra cabinet expansion for at least a fortnight and it seems that the after a few meetings, they have finally reached a conclusion.
A month after the NCP-Congress-Shiv Sena coalition formed government in Maharashtra, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's cabinet expansion is set to take place on Monday. A total of 36 ministers, including Cabinet Minister and Minister of State ranks, are expected to take oath today. Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari will administer the oath to the new ministers at 1 PM in the Maharashtra Legislature precinct.
The development was confirmed by Maharashtra Minister and Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat who said that 12 ministers from his party will take oath on Monday. He added that out of 12, 10 will take oath as cabinet ministers. "The list has been finalised for the oath ceremony to be held on Monday. It will be out today. There will be 12 ministers from Congress, out of which 10 are of cabinet rank," he said.
Leaders of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition have been in talks over the Maharashtra cabinet expansion for at least a fortnight and it seems that the after a few meetings, they have finally reached a conclusion.
According to sources, the NCP is likely to get 13 ministerial berths, while the Shiv Sena and Congress are have settled at 13 and 10 berths, respectively. Speculations are rife that senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar would take oath as Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra.
Presently, the MVA government has six cabinet ministers, two each from the three parties, along with CM Thackeray. The total strength of the ministry of Maharashtra cabinet cannot be more than 42 including the Chief Minister.
Among the senior Congress leaders, Ashok Chavan could be made a minister while former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan could be appointed as state Congress president in place of Balasaheb Thorat is now a cabinet minister.
Notably, the three parties had framed a Common Minimum Programme (CMP) and a seat-sharing formula before coming together to form a government in the state. According to the initial seat-sharing formula, the Shiv Sena would get 15 ministers apart from the Chief Minister, NCP 14 and Congress 12.
On November 23, Ajit Pawar had allied with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and took oath as the Deputy Chief Minister under then BJP Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. However, the two-man government could last just 80 hours as Pawar resigned.
BJP and Shiv Sena fought the elections together and had a comfortable majority to form the government but the two parties didn't reach any consensus on the '50-50 formula' that led to the break-up of ties.
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