Top Aghadi leaders discuss ministry making in Maharashtra

Leaders of the 'Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi' (MVA) met here on Wednesday, a day ahead of Chief Minister-designate Uddhav Thackeray's oath-taking ceremony as the process of forming the new council of ministers gathered momentum.

The meeting is taking place at the YB Chavan Centre in south Mumbai.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Thackeray, who is also the Sena president, and Congress veteran Ahmed Patel are among the leaders holding parleys over council of ministers and the swearing-in ceremony, to be held at the Shivaji Park in Dadar on Thursday evening.

Congress general secretary in-charge for Maharashtra Mallikarjun Kharge joined the leaders later.

The meeting follows Pawar's parleys with Patel, Congress general secretary K C Venugopal and others at the former's residence here earlier in the day.

The Sena, the NCP and the Congress on Tuesday named Thackeray as the chief ministerial nominee of the MVA, the three-party front forming the next government in the state.

Ever since the Sena reached out to the NCP and the Congress for a post-poll alliance, Pawar has been at the centre of government formation talks between the three main constituents of the newly-minted bloc.