Congress leader Vilasrao Deshmukh and Nationalist Congress Party's (NCP's)RR Patil were sworn in as chief minister and deputy chief minister of Maharashtra respectively on Monday by Governor Mohammad Fazal. The two have deferred till Wednesday appointment of their Cabinet ministers. The NCP is better poised to induct fresh faces into the Cabinet, since the party has two additional portfolios in addition to five others that fell vacant after sitting NCP ministers like Digvijay Khanvilkar lost.
Deshmukh will be going to New Delhi on Tuesday for consultations with the Congress high command on the issue of assigning truncated portfolios of the party (18 in all), after two ministries (forests and environment and labour) were handed over to the NCP.
While the Congress is witnessing intense lobbying for portfolios by various aspiring MLAs, Wednesday is likely to witness at least some senior (former) Congress members being left out of the Cabinet headed by Deshmukh.
While former transport minister Ashok Chavan is likely to be accommodated by Deshmukh, he may opt for only one from amongst former agriculture minister Govindrao Adik and former legislative affairs minister Rohidas Patil, according to a senior party leader.
Similarly Anees Ahmed is likely to be accommodated, which may result in either Naseem Khan or Sayyed Ahmed being dropped. Ahmed, however, is believed to be close to senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, since the time of Emergency in 1977.
The Congress is also likely to give representation to the 'dalit' faction in the party by elevating Janardhan Chandurkar (who won from Kherwadi in Mumbai city). He is a third time MLA from the region.
The NCP, on the other hand, is expected to field several fresh faces in the Cabinet with Sivendra Raje Bhosle a first time MLA from the Satara constituency, Baba Jani (first time MLA from Parbhani), Ganesh Naik (Thane) who was a minister in the Shiv Sena-BJP government in 1995, Dayanand Mhaske (MLC) and NCP rebel who won from the Panhala Assembly segment in Kolhapur, Vinay Kore.
The youth brigade in the new NCP Cabinet will also see Anil Deshmukh (in addition to some of the 11 Assembly segment winners from the Vidarbha region), Sachin Ahir and Nawab Mallick.
The post of speaker, that has been conceded to the NCP by the Congress will most likely be filled up by either Babasaheb Kupekar or Sureshdada Jain.
