Newly constituted Maharashtra Govt. holds first cabinet meeting in Mumbai

Mumbai, Nov 8(ANI): The first meeting of the newly constituted Maharashtra Government was held under the Chairmanship of Chief Minister Ashok Chavan here on Sunday.

Ending a 16-day stalemate, the Congress party and its ally Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) formed the new Government on Saturday, where Chavan along with 37 other cabinet ministers were administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor S C Jamir at the Raj Bhawan.

Addressing the media on the first day's meet, NCP's Mumbai unit President Sachin Ahir, said: "We had a good round of discussion in the first meeting of the cabinet and issues regarding the state were primarily discussed."

"The meeting took place in a healthy environment and youngsters like us got a lot to learn from it. We hope the new cabinet will solve people's problem and the pending issues of the State," Ahir added.

Earlier in the day, Chavan and Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal visited Buddhist monument, Chaityabhoomi, to take the blessings of Dr. B R Ambedkar.

The new Government has 18 ministers from the Congress party and 20 from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

The alliance won 144 out of 288 seats in the October 13 assembly polls, whereas the main opposition alliance secured 90 seats, Shiv Sena got 44 and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) 46. (ANI)