Mumbai: New Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday afternoon formally took charge at 'Mantralaya' here with a huge crowd trailing him. The Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government of the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress alliance may face floor test in the Assembly on Saturday, sources said.
The floor test is 'most likey' to be held on Saturday, the Vidhan Bhawan sources told PTI. Governor BK Koshyari has asked Thackeray to prove majority by December 3. Thackeray, who is also the Shiv Sena president, was sworn-in as the chief minister on Thursday evening and hours later, presided over his government's first cabinet meeting.
Arriving in the State government headquarters, Thackeray accompanied by wife Rashmi, a few family members, son Aaditya and others first paid homage at the Martyr's Memorial erected in memory of those who sacrificed their lives in the Samyukta Maharashtra Movement.
Uddhav and Aaditya Thackeray placed wreaths, bowed and paid obeisance at the memorial near Mantralaya. Later, he also paid respects offered flowers before the portraits of BR Ambedkar, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and other historical figures, inside the Mantralaya.
Along with Thackeray, his six Cabinet colleagues comprising the 'Maha Vikas Aghadi' - Shiv Sena's Eknath Shinde and Subhash Desai, NCP's Jayant Patil and Chhagan Bhujbal, and Congress' Balasaheb Thorat and Nitin Raut - also assumed charge in their respective chambers.
Later, he was due to have a brief meeting with his Cabinet colleagues in a meeting hall near his office after the mini-Cabinet met for the first time late on Thursday night.
Though the agenda of the meeting is not yet known, it is expected that the Chief Minister may make a few announcements signalling he's now firmly in the saddle. Several thousand people had lined the road leading to Mantralaya with many others including staffers in and outside Mantralaya.
