With Uddhav Thackeray Set To Take Oath As CM, Congress-Sena-NCP Start Jostling For Portfolios

As Uddhav Thackeray is all set to be sworn-in as Maharashtra Chief Minister on Thursday (28 November), senior Congress leaders Ahmed Patel and K C Venugopal are going to meet Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, likely to discuss allocation of Cabinet portfolios, reports The Indian Express.

The three parties are expected to decide on ministerial berth sharing in the next couple of days as the way to form a coalition government is clear in the state.

Speaking to reporters, Balasaheb Thorat, the Congress legislature party leader in the House, said, "The ratio of portfolio-sharing will be finalised in next two days. The number of cabinet and minister of state (MoS) posts to be given to each party will also be finalised in next two days."

On Wednesday morning, a special session of the state Assembly was convened to administer oath to members in the 288-member House by pro-tem Speaker Kalidas Kolambkar that included NCP leaders Ajit Pawar, Chhagan Bhujbal, Congress leaders Ashok Chavan, Prithviraj Chavan, and Shiv Sena’s Aaditya Thackeray.

Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray late on Tuesday (26 November) had staked his claim to form the government in Maharashtra before Governor B S Koshyari.

Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday tendered his resignation achieving a sad distinction of having the shortest tenure of a government in Maharashtra after the Supreme Court’s order of conducting a floor test in the assembly..

It is worth knowing that former Congress president Rahul Gandhi has been surprisingly absent from all meetings in Maharashtra and will not attend the swearing-in ceremony of Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray.