A day ahead of Shiv Sena Chief Uddhav Thackeray taking oath-taking as Maharashtra Chief Minister, the Congress party has reportedly agreed to give up the claim on the post of Speaker and instead will be accommodated with 13 ministerial berths in Maharashtra council of ministers.
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According to the report, the Congress party which had earlier insisted on the post of Speaker in the newly elected legislative assembly has now backed off from the claim. However, the Congress party will now be given 13 ministerial posts that include nine cabinet ministerial berths and four MoS posts.
As per a News18 report, senior Congress leaders Vijay Namdevrao Wadettiwar, Yashomati Thakur, Nana Patole, Varsha Gaikwad, Amin Patel, Ashok Chavan, Amit Deshmukh, Bunty Patil, Vishwajit Kadam, KC Padvi will be nominated as cabinet ministers in the Maharashtra government along with four other junior ministers.
It is likely that the post of Speaker will be from the NCP, which is also expected to get a fair share of cabinet berths in the new government.
The Maharashtra government can not have more than 43 ministers in its council of ministers, which includes Chief Minister, cabinet ministers and minister of states. According to the 91st Constitutional Amendment Act 2003, the total number of ministers including in the council of ministers shall not exceed 15% of the total strength of the state legislative assembly.
The political drama in Maharashtra took a completely new turn on Tuesday when Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis resigned from the post after NCP leader Ajit Pawar withdrew his support following his resignation from the government. Following that the Shiv Sena, NCP and the Congress joined hands together to form the next government in Maharashtra.
The BJP, which had won 105 seats in the 288-member Maharashtra assembly, was short of 40 MLAs to prove a majority. The BJP had relied on Ajit Pawar to bring in 54 NCP MLAs. However, the political gamble failed as Ajit Pawar shied away from supporting the BJP led government at the last moment.
On Tuesday evening, the newly-elected MLAs, including senior members of the three parties had nominated Shiv Sena chief as the Chief Minister of the state. Uddhav Thackeray will be leading an alliance of the Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party-Congress, called Maha Vikas Aghadi, in Maharashtra. With this, Maharashtra will have a Shiv Sena Chief Minister after 20 years.
Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray will swear in as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra on 28th November 2019. In a letter last night, Maharashtra Governor Koshyari invited the new alliance ‘Maha Vikas Aghadi’ to form a government under the leadership of Uddhav Thackeray.
Reportedly, six ministers will also be taking their oath as ministers alongside Chief Minister-designate Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday at Shivaji park in Mumbai.