Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray will be sworn-in as Maharashtra Chief Minister on Thursday evening.
Thackeray called on Governor Bhaghat Singh Koshyari on Wednesday at Raj Bhavan.
The Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress combine elected Thackeray as its nominee for Maharashtra Chief Minister's post, following which their leaders met Governor Koshyari and staked claim to form government of the "Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi".
The leaders submitted a letter claiming support of 166 MLAs to the governor. The Governor, in a letter addressed to Uddhav Thackeray, asked him to submit a "list" of "majority support in the Assembly" by December 3.
"I have noted that Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi has 166 number of elected members", the letter released by Raj Bhavan said.
It further said that since Uddhav is not a member of the Maharashtra legislature, he will have to become member within six months after taking oath as the CM.
A senior Sena leader, who met the governor along with leaders of the Congress and the NCP, said Thackeray will take oath as the chief minister at 6:40 pm on November 28 at the Shivaji Park in Dadar.
Earlier, NCP chief Sharad Pawar had announced at a joint meeting of the three parties that swearing-in of the new government will take place on December 1, but the schedule was apparently changed late night.
"We are submitting a joint statement of staking claim for government formation. We will also produce proof of the support of all the MLAs of the three parties to the governor as part of the mandatory procedure," said the leader.
The three parties held a joint meeting at a suburban hotel where Thackeray was picked as leader of the unlikely alliance.
Thackeray, who would be the first member of his family to occupy the top political post in the state, said his government will not be vindictive.
"I will go to Delhi to meet my `elder brother' after the government is formed," he said, referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi who had called him "my younger brother" during campaign rallies.
Hours earlier, four-day-old BJP government led by Devendra Fadnavis and supported by NCP's Ajit Pawar had collapsed.
At the meeting, 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 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.
(PTI)
