Maharashtra government formation: The sharing of portfolios among the Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress in the next Maharashtra government will be finalised in a couple of days, state Congress chief Balasaheb Thorat said on Wednesday. The ‘Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi’, which comprises three parties along with some small parties and Independents, staked claim to form government in Maharashtra after the Devendra Fadnavis-led government collapsed on Tuesday.

Thorat, who is also the Congress Legislature Party leader in the Maharashtra Assembly, said that the decision on Speaker’s post, number of Cabinet and Minister of State (MoS) posts to be given to each party will also be finalised in next two days.

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Dismissing rumours of his appointment as the deputy chief minister, the Congress state chief maintained that no decision has been taken on who will be the Deputy Chief Minister of the state.

“The ratio of portfolio-sharing will be finalised in next two days,” he said after taking oath as member of state Assembly.

A session of the 14th Maharashtra Legislative Assembly commenced in Mumbai this morning to administer oath to the newly-elected members.

The special Assembly session comes a day after Ajit Pawar resigned as deputy CM, nearly 80 hours after he took the oath. Later, CM Devendra Fadnavis also resigned from his post, saying the BJP lacks the desired numbers to form the government without the NCP’s support, thus registering his name among chief ministers with the shortest tenures.

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The ‘Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi’ elected Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray as their leader, paving way for his appointment as the next Chief Minister of Maharashtra. The Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress combine also met Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari and staked claim to form the next government. Thackeray will be sworn in CM on Thursday evening at Shivaji Park in Dadar.

Meanwhile, ahead of Thackeray’s swearing-in ceremony, senior Congress leaders including Ahmed Patel and KC Venugopal will meet NCP chief Sharad Pawar at his residence on Wednesday. The leaders are likely to discuss the distribution of Cabinet portfolios.