Sushilkumar Shinde will now head a 69-member jumbo ministry of the Democratic Front govt.
Union minister and Congress leader Vilasrao Deshmukh and two Nationalist Congress Party candidates were elected on Monday to the Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra. NCP leaders Govindrao Adik and Ranjitsinh Mohite Patil were elected to the Upper House of parliament against the seats vacated by Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel and Supriya Sule after their election to Lok Sabha.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Adik said he was prepared to step down if so asked by Sonia Gandhi. He, however, added that he had not been asked to quit by the party president.
Deshmukh, who is a senior leader from the Vidarbha region, replaces Govindrao Adik.
Sukumar Mukhopadhyay, former member, Central Board of Excise and Customs, and Govindrao Adik, MP and General Secretary, NCP, debate the pros and cons of offering amnesty to tax evaders.
The chief minister has retained the urban development and co-operation, and general administration and urban land ceiling portfolios.
Deshmukh is a senior leader from the Vidarbha region.
The NCP supremo, who was at the receiving end of his nephew's move during the day, had, 45 years ago, split the Congress and walked out with 40 MLAs, leading to the collapse of the Vasantdada Patil government.
Pawar has occupied the post since he founded the party in 1999.
The Nationalist Congress Party on Thursday attributed the drubbing the Congress-led UPA has received in polls mainly to the "communication deficit" on part of outgoing prime minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi and also to issues like hike in prices of fuel and LPG cylinders by the ruling dispensation.
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