Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said that the list of Congress ministers to be inducted into his cabinet was "almost ready" and the oath-taking ceremony is likely to be held on Thursday.
Prithviraj Chavan who recently took over his new portfolio arrived in Delhi on Tuesday evening to finalise his cabinet and is expected to announce the new team on Wednesday.The portfolio allocation has been delayed by the Congress's quest for clean politicians and hectic lobbying within the state Congress.
"The list of Congress ministers is almost ready and we would be speaking to (alliance partner) NCP tomorrow on the issue (of Cabinet expansion) as requested by NCP chief Sharad Pawar,"he told reporters at the secretariat here.
"I expect the oath ceremony to take place on Thursday," said Chavan, who arrived here from Delhi on Tuesday evening.
On the allotment of ministerial berths, the new CM,who took charge last week, said the formula of 2009, which gave 23 portfolios to Congress and 20 to NCP,would be implemented.
Chavan also held an half hour closed-door meeting this
evening with NCP chief Sharad Pawar.
Earlier,NCP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar demanded an additional portfolio in the new government."We want 21 ministerial posts out of a total of 43 berths. We
will speak to Chavan on the issue soon,"he said.
The Congress has 82 MLAs, while the NCP has 62 in the
288-member House. Chavan, Pawar and NCP leaders Chhagan Bhujbal, RR Patil, Ganesh Naik, Jayant Patil, Laxman Dhoble, Jaidutt
Kshirsagar and Sunil Tatkare took the oath of office last
week.Besides Chavan, no other Congress leader has taken the
oath.
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