Gov. K. Sankaranarayanan administered the oath to the lone Congress minister Chavan and nine ministers from the NCP. Former Chief Ministers Ashok Chavan, Sushil Kumar Shinde and Vilasrao Deshmukh attended the function.
Chavan replaces Ashok Chavan, whose resignation as chief minister was accepted by the Congress leadership following allegations of his involvement in Mumbai's Adarsh housing society scam.
In the first stage held on Thursday, the NCP retained all of its ministers including Chhagan Bhujbal, R.R. Patil, Jayant Patil, Sunil Tatkare, Laxmanrao Dobale, Ganesh Naik, Jaydutt, Manohar Naik and Vijaykumar Gavit. All the 11 ministers took the oath in Marathi. Maharashtra Navnirman Sena president had requested that Chavan to take the oath in Marathi.
Jitters were felt in the Congress camp, as none of the Congress heavyweight leaders, including Narayan Rane and Patangrao Kadam, were called for the induction. A panicked Rane and Kadam immediately drove out of the Rajbhavan to meet Chavan and seek clarification as to whether they are in or out of the new government.
Disappointment was largely writ on the face of Bhujbal, who was ousted from the post of the deputy chief minister by Ajit Pawar.
A senior NCP leader close to Bhujbal told Arab News that it took a lot of time and pursuance for Federal Minister Praful Patel and senior NCP leaders D.P. Tripati and others to get Bhujbal to propose the name of Ajit for the post of deputy chief minister.
Bhujbal, he said, was hesitant to attend the oath-taking ceremony and become a minister. Bhujbal agreed after being assured that he would be given two important portfolios. Sources said that former ministers close to Chavan would be dropped from the ministry. Portfolios of the new ministers would be announced on Sunday. More Cabinet ministers and ministers of state would be included in the second stage later next week and some new faces would be inducted.
