Dilip Walse Patil Maharashtra's new Home Minister

Soon after the resignation of Anil Deshmukh, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has appointed senior Nationalist Congress Party leader ex-Speaker and Labour Minister Dilip Walse-Patil as the new Home Minister.

Deshmukh resigned on Monday from his post, hours after the Bombay High Court ordered a CBI probe into corruption charges leveled against him by former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh.

The MLA Dilip Walse from Ambegaon is currently the state Minister of Excise and Labour. His father Dattatray Walse Patil, a former Congress MLA, was also close to Sharad Pawar.

Mr Patil won his first election as a Congress candidate from Ambegaon in 1990. In 1999, he followed Mr Pawar out of the Congress party and joined the NCP.

Meanwhile, Rural Development Minister Hasan Mushrif will get the additional charge of the Labour Department and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar the charge of the Excise department in addition to finance and planning. Both Labour and Excise portfolios were held by Dilip Walse Patil.