Sena-NCP-Cong combine announces Uddhav Thackeray as CM nominee

The Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress alliance on Tuesday evening picked Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray as their nominee for Maharashtra chief minister's post.

Thackeray will be the first member of his family to occupy the top political post in the state.

The decision was taken at a joint meeting of the three parties at a suburban hotel here, hours after four-day- old BJP government led by Devendra Fadnavis and supported by NCP's Ajit Pawar collapsed.

Maharashtra NCP chief Jayant Patil proposed Thackeray's name as "the (next) chief minister".

State Congress chief Balasaheb Thorat seconded the proposal.

The meeting was attended by NCP chief Sharad Pawar, senior party leader Praful Patel, Congress leader Ashok Chavan, Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana's Raju Shetti, Samajwadi Party's Abu Azmi, MLAs of all these parties and others.

The three parties named their alliance as 'Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi'.