Uddhav Thackeray was sworn in as the Maharashtra Chief MInister on November 28.
Two weeks after Uddhav Thackeray took oath as the Chief Minister, the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress coalition government in Maharashtra finally arrived at an understanding on portfolio distribution. The Shiv Sena - of which Mr Thackeray is the chief - will get the Home and Urban Development portfolios as part of the arrangement while Finance and Housing will go to the Sharad Pawar-led NCP. The Congress will get the Revenue portfolio.
"This allocation is temporary because the cabinet expansion is not yet done which will happen after the assembly session. So don't read much into the allocation now because this is done keeping in mind the Winter Session. But even before that we have actually started working and have been taking decisions anyway," NCP's Jayant Patil told NDTV.
The Shiv Sena's Eknath Shinde has been given the Forests and Environment, Water Conservation and Sanitation, Tourism, Soil and Water Conservation, Parliamentary Affairs, Ex-Servicemen's Welfare departments. The Public Works Department (PWD), another coveted portfolio that was expected to cause some friction in the alliance, has gone to the Shiv Sena.
Besides Finance and Housing, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has got the Rural Development, Water Resources, Special Assistance and Social Justice, Excise, Skill Development, Medical Administration portfolios.
The Congress will have the departments of Power and Renewable Energy, Medical Education, School Education, Animal Husbandry, Dairy Development, Fisheries.
The BJP and Shiv Sena had contested the polls together and won a majority in the November assembly elections, but cracks began emerging in the alliance after Uddhav Thackeray refused to play second fiddle and demanded rotational chief ministership. The Shiv Sena walked out of the 30-year-old alliance after the BJP refused to budge, joining hands with the Congress and the NCP.
After a period of hectic political activity during which the BJP's Devendra Fadnavis swore in as the Chief Minister and resigned days later, 59-year-old Uddhav Thackeray finally took oath along with six ministers in a star-studded ceremony at Mumbai's Shivaji Park on November 28. However, the question of portfolio allocation continued to hang ominously over the alliance.
NCP leader Ajit Pawar had met Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday evening to finalise the power-sharing agreement between the three parties. Balasaheb Thorat, president of the Maharashtra Congress, was also present.