New Maharashtra government to take office Saturday

Mumbai, Nov 6 : Maharashtra chief minister-elect Ashok Chavan Friday staked formal claim to form the next government with the support of 170 legislators. The new Democratic Front ministry will be sworn-in here Saturday evening.

"We have submitted letters of support of 170 legislators, including the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, Bahujan Vikas Aghadi, Rashtriya Swabhiman Paksh, Swabhiman Paksh, RPI (Gavai), Rashtriya Samaj Paksh and Independents. The governor has accepted the letters and invited us to form the new government," Chavan said after meeting Governor S.C. Jamir Friday evening.

Chavan, along with deputy chief minister-designate Chhagan Bhujbal and top office-bearers of both the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party met Governor Jamir at Raj Bhavan Friday evening.

According to Chavan, besides himself and Bhujbal, around 16-18 Congress legislators and 20 NCP legislators shall be sworn in ministers.

The second lot of Congress legislators will be inducted into the ministry at a later date, he added.

Declining to reveal the names of the probables who would join the ministry Saturday, Chavan side-stepped a query on this by saying portfolios would be allocated on the basis of seniority-cum-experience.

It is also not immediately known whether the smaller parties and Independents would be accommodated in the new ministry.

Friday's developments came 15 days after the Oct 13 assembly election results were declared on Oct 22.

Following the assembly results, a bitter tug-of-war ensued between the Congress and the NCP over the power-sharing formula, which was resolved Thursday evening, paving the way for the formation of the new ministry.

As per the formula finalized in New Delhi Thursday, the Congress will get 22 ministers, plus the chief minister's post, while the NCP will get 20 ministers.

In the previous ministry, the Congress had 19 ministers while the NCP had 23.