Maharashtra Cabinet expansion LIVE Updates
The Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra led by Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress on Monday witnessed another cabinet expansion as several newly elected MLAs took as ministers in Uddhav Thackeray's cabinet.
NCP leader and Sharad Pawar's nephew Ajit Pawar sworn-in as Deputy Chief Minister, for the second time in two months, the first was with along Devendra Fadnavis in November when he attempted a coup to form the government with the BJP.
Meanwhile, Uddhav Thackeray's son Aaditya Thackeray also took oath for the first time as a cabinet minister in a state government.
List of newly inducted ministers in Maharashtra government
While Maharashtra cabinet expansion is underway at the moment, here is a list of leaders who have already taken oath as ministers in the Maharashtra cabinet.
Senior Congress leader and former CM Ashok Chavan, Congress leaders including KC Padvi, Vijay Wadettiwar, Amit Deshmukh, Sunil Kadar, Yashomati Thakur, Varsha Gaikwad and Aslam Sheikh and NCP's Nawab Malik among others took oath as ministers in the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government.
Besides, Satej Patil and Vishwajit Kadam of the Congress are also expected to be sworn in as ministers of state.
The Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government led by Uddhav Thackeray was formed on November 28. The state Cabinet currently has six ministers, besides the chief minister.
Balasaheb Thorat and Nitin Raut of the Congress, Eknath Shinde and Subhash Desai of the Shiv Sena and Jayant Patil and Chhagan Bhujbal of the NCP took oath along with Thackeray on November 28.
Maharashtra can have a maximum of 43 ministers. The size of the council of ministers cannot exceed 15 per cent of the total number of MLAs, which is 288 in the state.
The Shiv Sena last month joined hands with the Congress and NCP, its traditional adversaries, after its alliance with the BJP collapsed over the issue of sharing the chief ministerial post.
As per the power-sharing formula decided by the three MVA allies, the Sena will get 15 ministerial berths, excluding the CM's post, the NCP will also get 15 and the Congress 12.
The Shiv Sena has 56 MLAs, the NCP-54 and the Congress-44 in the 288-member House.
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