NCP to get Deputy CM post; Speaker from Congress in New Maharashtra government

Mumbai: The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) will get deputy chief minister’s post in the Maharashtra government, the party’s leader Praful Patel said here Wednesday night.

The Congress will get Assembly Speaker’s post, while the NCP will get Deputy Speaker’s post, Patel told reporters after a meeting of the Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress here.

He also said that along with Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray who will be sworn in as chief minister n Thursday evening, one or two members of each of the three parties will take oath as ministers.

Earlier leaders of the ‘Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi’ (MVA) met here Wednesday, a day ahead of Chief Minister-designate Uddhav Thackeray’s oath-taking ceremony as the process of forming the new council of ministers gathered momentum. The meeting took place at the YB Chavan Centre in south Mumbai.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena president Thackeray and Congress veteran Ahmed Patel were among the leaders who held parleys over council of ministers and the swearing-in ceremony, to be held at the Shivaji Park in Dadar, Thursday evening.

Congress general secretary in-charge for Maharashtra Mallikarjun Kharge joined meeting later.

The meeting follows Pawar’s parleys with Patel, Congress general secretary KC Venugopal and others at the his residence here earlier in the day.

The Sena, the NCP and the Congress named Tuesday Thackeray as the chief ministerial nominee of the MVA, the three-party front forming the next government in the state.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and DMK leader MK Stalin have been invited for Thackeray’s swearing-in as Maharashtra CM.

“We have invited Congress president Sonia Gandhi for the swearing-in ceremony. We are hopeful that some other senior Congress leaders will also attend the event,” Sena leader Eknath Shinde said Wednesday.

Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar said that chief ministers of Congress-ruled states have been invited along with Mamata Banerjee, Kejriwal and Stalin.

Apart from prominent political leaders, the Sena has also invited some 400 farmers, including members of families of agriculturists who committed suicide, party MP Vinayak Raut told reporters.

Agencies