Zeenews Bureau
New Delhi: After having discussions with Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday, Maharashtra Chief Minister-elect Ashok Chavan on Friday confirmed that swearing-in ceremony of the new government will be held tomorrow.
He however refused to clear the picture on portfolio allocation and said that the final decision on Cabinet formation will be taken later in the day.
Chavan along with Deputy Chief Minister-designate Chhagan Bhujbal of the NCP would call on Governor SC Jamir in the evening and stake formal claim to form the new state government.
"I am going to meet the Governor in the evening and the swearing-in will be in Mumbai tomorrow," Chavan told reporters in New Delhi just before leaving for Mumbai.
Officials added that 20 ministers of the NCP would be sworn in along with a few Congress ministers.
The Congress-NCP late Thursday finally managed to arrive at a consensus over power-sharing, paving the way for swearing-in the new government.
As per the formula, the Congress would get 23 ministers, while the NCP will get 20. The NCP is expected to retain home, finance and power portfolios while negotiations are continuing on other portfolios.
In the previous ministry, the Congress had 19 ministers while the NCP had 23. The NCP had secured 71 seats compared to the Congress' 69.
Congress and NCP rode back to power for the third time in a row defeating opposition Shiv Sena-BJP in a mainly four-cornered contest in which Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and the Third Front tried to make inroads.
NCP is expected to retain the key portfolios of Home, Finance, Power and Rural Development while Congress could be getting Public Health.
As government formation was delayed after declaration of Assembly poll results on October 22 due to hard negotiations between Congress and NCP over portfolio-sharing,
Governor S C Jamir had nudged both the parties to show a sense of urgency to put in place a government.
The Congress emerged the largest party in the 288-member house, bagging 82 seats; the NCP came next with 62 seats.
The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party got 46 seats, Shiv Sena 44, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena 13 and the rest went to independents and smaller parties.
First Published: Friday, November 06, 2009, 15:45