Six leaders -- two each from Congress, Shiv Sena, and NCP -- took oath as ministers in Maharashtra's alliance government on Thursday led by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. They were administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari at Shivaji Park here.
Congress' Balasaheb Thorat and Nitin Raut, NCP's Jayant Rajaram Patil, and Chhagan Chandrakant Bhujbal took oath as ministers. From Shiv Sena, Eknath Shinde and Subhash Desai were sworn in as ministers.
Uddhav is the first member of the Thackeray family to become the Chief Minister of Maharashtra and the third Shiv Sena leader to hold the top post after Manohar Joshi and Narayan Rane.
He is leading a government of the Maha Vikas Aghadi, an alliance of Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and Congress.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, Kapil Sibbal, KTS Tulsi, MK Stalin, SK Shinde, Sanjay Raut, and Prithviraj Chavan, MNS leader and Uddhav's cousin Raj Thackeray were among several leaders who attended the oath-taking ceremony.
On Tuesday, Thackeray had been unanimously elected as the leader of the tri-party alliance -- Maha Vikas Aghadi.