Maharashtra Cabinet expansion: Ajit takes oath as Dy CM, Aaditya as minister

Mumbai: A total of 36 ministers were inducted in Maharashtra Cabinet as part of the much-delayed expansion. The NCP leader Ajit Pawar took oath as Deputy Chief Minister, Aaditya Thackeray and 34 others were sworn-in as ministers on Monday.

According to highly placed sources, Aaditya Thackeray and 24 other leaders of Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance were be sworn-in as Cabinet ministers whereas a total of 10 MLAs including Shiv Sena's Abdul Sattar would become ministers of state.

Senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Nawab Malik, legislators Anil Deshmukh, Hasan Mushrif, Rajendra Shingne, Rajesh Tope, Jitendra Awhad, and Balasaheb Patil took oath as Cabinet ministers from NCP quota.

Former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, Congress MLAs Dilip Walse-Patil, Dhananjay Munde, Vijay Wadettiwar, Sunil Chhatrapal Kedar, Amit Deshmukh, Aslam Shaikh, Yashomati Thakur, and KC Padavi took oath to become part of the Maharashtra Cabinet.

From Shiv Sena, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's son Aaditya Thackeray, MLAs Sanjay Rathod, Gulab Raghunath Patil, Dadaji Bhuse, Sandipanrao Bhumre, Anil Parab, and Uday Samant were sworn-in as Cabinet ministers.

Shankarrao Gadakh of Krantikari Shetkari Paksha, who extended his support to the alliance, was also sworn-in as a Cabinet minister.

Shiv Sena's Abdul Sattar, Shambhuraj Desai, Congress' Satej alias Banti Patil and Vishwajeet Kadam were among the MLAs who took oath as ministers of state.

Independent MLAs Bachhu Kadu and Rajendra Patil Yadravkar, who supported Shiv Sena after polls, were also be inducted as ministers of state.

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.