Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party which played a key role in bringing together the ideologically disparate Shiv Sena and the Congress and helped government formation in Maharashtra is set to emerge as the biggest winner with most of the state's key cabinet berths. The party is expected to get the home, finance, irrigation and housing ministries.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar said that his party will ask Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray to form a SIT to investigate the Bhima Koregaon case properly. "We will be asking the Maharashtra CM to form an SIT to investigate Elgaar Parishad case properly," said Mr Pawar. The police had filed 58 cases against 162 people during a state-wide shutdown in January following clashes in Bhima-Koregaon.

NCP-chief Sharad Pawar kept mum on whether senior-party-leader and his nephew Ajit Pawar would become deputy chief minister in the Maha Vikas Aghadi in Maharashtra. CM Uddhav Thackeray would soon take decision on cabinet expansion, Mr Pawar said at a press conference in Maharashtra's Pune. When asked if it was taking longer than usual for cabinet expansion, Sharad Pawar replied in the negative.