MUMBAI: Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's son Aditya Thackeray and former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan are among the leaders who are likely to be inducted in the Maharashtra Cabinet on Monday as part of its first expansion.
Aditya Uddhav Thackeray, an MLA from Worli, is the first member of the Thackeray family to contest elections and is likely to become one of the youngest ministers of the state, according to sources.
Ajit Pawar who was the Deputy Chief Minister in the shortlived Fadnavis government, has since returned to the NCP fold and it was widely believed that he would be rehabilitated. According to sources, Ajit Pawar is likely to be anointed as Deputy Chief Minister.
The swearing-in will take place at 1 pm in the Vidhan Bhavan (state legislature) premises where a total of 36 ministers are likely to take oath, as per sources.
According to sources in the Maha Vikas Aghadi, Congress leaders Vijay Wadettiwar, KC Padvi, Amit Deshmukh, Sunil Kedar, Yashomati Thakur will be taking oath as ministers as part of the Cabinet expansion.
MLAs Varsha Gaikwad, Aslam Sheikh, Satej Patil and Vishvajeet Kadam will also be sworn-in as ministers from Congress quota, sources added.
Meanwhile, NCP leader Ajit Pawar is also expected to be sworn-in as Deputy Chief Minister from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the largest party in the alliance, sources said.
On November 28, Uddhav Thackeray took oath as Chief Minister bringing an end to weeks of political instability in the state's politics after Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress stitched a post-poll coalition as Maha Vikas Aghadi. Six other ministers -- two each from NCP, Congress, and Shiv Sena took the oath of office.
As per the power-sharing formula decided by the three MVA allies, the Sena will get 15 ministerial berths, excluding the CM's post, the NCP will also get 15 and the Congress 12.
Maharashtra at present has six ministers besides the Chief Minister and can have a maximum of 43 ministers.
The size of council of ministers cannot exceed 15 per cent of the total number of MLAs, which is 288 in the state of which 56 are from Shiv Sena, 54 from NCP and 44 from Congress.