Hours after the Mahayuti alliance partners held a press conference on Wednesday evening after meeting Maharashtra Governor CP Radhakrishnan, it is learnt that Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde has agreed to take oath as one of the Deputy Chief Ministers on Thursday.

The development came hours after Fadnavis publicly urged Shinde to join his Cabinet while addressing a press conference after staking claim to form a Mahayuti government in Maharashtra.

However, Wednesday’s press conference had its delicate moments when Eknath Shinde kept up the suspense about whether he would take oath as one of the Deputy CMs, along with NCP’s Ajit Pawar, who openly stated that he would take oath as one of the Deputy Chief Ministers.

When Shinde was asked at the same press conference whether he would take oath as one of the Deputy Chief Ministers, he brushed off the question by saying that he would let people know “later”, sparking off apprehension about his intentions. On Tuesday, Shinde had agreed to be one of the two Deputy CMs and it was learnt that he might head the ministry of urban development.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that seven ministers from the Shinde-led Shiv Sena are also likely to be inducted into the Mahayuti cabinet. Besides Eknath Shinde, Shiv Sena leaders including Dada Bhuse, Shambhuraj Desai, Gulabrao Patil, Arjun Khotkar, Sanjay Rathod and Uday Samant are likely to be inducted, sources said.

Sources stated that Ajit Pawar-led NCP had put forth a list of demands for the new cabinet, which includes 11 names from the NCP for the Mahayuti cabinet.

It is learnt that Ajit Pawar will continue as one of the two Deputy Chief Ministers, while senior NCP leaders including Aditi Tatkare, Chhagan Bhujbal, Dhananjay Munde, Anil Bhaidas Patil, Sanjay Bansode and Narhari Zirwal likely to be in the cabinet, besides some new NCP faces like former mayor Sangram Jagtap as well as MLAs Indranil Naik and Sunil Shelke.

The BJP has released a list of 17 probable ministers who are likely to be inducted in the Mahayuti government. While BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis will be chief minister, the Mahayuti cabinet list features names of BJP MLAs like Ashish Shelar, Girish Mahajan, Rahul Narvekar and Nitesh Rane.

The BJP list of ministers from the coastal Konkan region include Ravindra Chavan, Nitesh Rane and Ganesh Naik, while BJP MLAs Mangal Prabhat Lodha, Ashish Shelar, Rahul Narvekar and Atul Bhatkhalkar are likely to be inducted as ministers from the Mumbai region.

BJP MLAs from Western Maharashtra including Shivendrasinhraje Bhosale, Gopichand Padalkar, Madhuri Misal and Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil are likely to be inducted as well, while BJP MLAs Chandrashekhar Bawankule and Sanjay Kute will be inducted as ministers to represent the Vidarbha region of Eastern Maharashtra.

From North Maharashtra, Girish Mahajan and Jaykumar Rawal are set to join the cabinet, while Pankaja Munde and Atul Save from Marathwada are likely to be appointed as cabinet ministers, sources said.