MUMBAI: Over a fortnight after Uddhav Thackeray took over as CM heading a Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government, the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi, as the recently-formed three-party alliance is called, allocated 56 portfolios between the seven ministers who were all sworn in on November 28.Of the plum portfolios, the Sena has got home and urban development, the NCP finance along with housing and rural development, and the Congress has obtained the revenue and public works departments.However, this allocation is temporary, and Thackeray is likely to expand the cabinet on December 22 or 23, once the one-week winter session of the state legislature starting on December 16 in Nagpur is over. But Uddhav appeared to have succeeded in convincing the NCP, which had also staked claim on the home and urban development ministries, to follow the pattern of allocation in the previous BJP-Sena government where both departments were held by CM Devendra Fadnavis . Here Uddhav is not holding these himself (he has only ministries “not assigned to any cabinet member”), Sena’s Eknath Shinde does, but they stay with Thackeray’s party.Maharashtra can have no more than 43 ministers which is 15% of the strength of the 288-member assembly.Shinde, who was public health and MSRDC minister in the earlier government, has got charge of environment and forests, MSRDC and parliamentary affairs, while another Sena minister Subhash Desai is in charge of industries, higher and technical education and transport, apart from some other ministries. NCP’s Jayant Patil has got finance and planning, housing, public health and cooperation, among other portfolios, while the other NCP minister, Chhagan Bhujbal , has rural development, water resources, and state excise, among others. State Congress president Balasaheb Thorat has got revenue, energy, medical education and school education, in addition to some other ministries, while the party’s Nitin Raut has got public works and tribal development.The Congress was keen on the education department as party president Sonia Gandhi apparently wants to restore the state’s education pattern to pre-2014 levels. Congress leaders are of the view that “pro-RSS and anti-Gandhi” lessons had been introduced during BJP-Sena rule.A senior cabinet member admitted that after several rounds of talks between top leaders of Congress, NCP and Sena, it was made clear to the leadership that discontent was brewing not only among legislators but also among high-ranking bureaucrats and citizens. It was then that disputes between the parties were resolved. “We never expected allocation of portfolios would be delayed by 15 days. Ultimately decisions were taken at the level of Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray,” he said. “It is a temporary allocation, but a balance has been struck. The Sena, Congress and NCP have been given equally important portfolios, so there should be no grudge,” he added.An NCP minister said the decision on whether to have a deputy CM would be taken by party president Sharad Pawar, Thackeray and Thorat. “It was agreed in principle that if the Speaker’s post is given to Congress, the deputy CM will be from NCP, which will have to decide between Ajit Pawar and Jayant Patil,” he said.Interestingly, the NCP minister said the decision to expand the cabinet has been put off until after the legislature’s winter session in view of the possibility of a split among constituents of the Maha Vikas Aghadi. “We fear that BJP may try to do a Karnataka-style experiment in the state, therefore we are being careful. If a few legislators quit during the session, the government will collapse, so we are not taking any chances. The expansion will take place after the Nagpur session,” he said.