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Maharashtra Cabinet expansion: At least 19 ministers from BJP, 11 from Shiv Sena and nine from Ajit Pawar’s NCP took oath on Sunday.
BJP’s Chandrashekhar Bawankule and Pankaja Munde took oath at Nagpur’s Raj Bhavan on Sunday.
Maharashtra Cabinet Expansion: The Cabinet reshuffle of the new BJP-led Maharashtra government took place on Sunday as 39 ministers from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Shiv Sena (Shinde party) and Nationalist Congress Party (Ajit Pawar) were sworn in at Raj Bhavan in Nagpur today.
The Maharashtra cabinet includes 19 ministers from BJP, 11 from Shinde Sena and nine from Ajit Pawar’s NCP. The cabinet reshuffle comes 10 days after Devendra Fadnavis was sworn in as Chief Minister after a landslide in the November Assembly elections, while Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar were sworn in as deputy CMs.
BJP district unit chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule, Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, Chandrakant Patil, Ashish Shelar, Pankaja Munde, Ganesh Naik, Jayakumar Rawal, Shivendraraje Bhosale, Atul Save, Ashok Ramaji Uike, Sanjay Savkare, Nitish Mijasal and Madhuri Mahaghna Bordikar among them were the pastors who took the oath on Sunday.
From the Eknath Shinde camp, Uday Samant, Gulabrao Patil, Dadaji Bhuse, Sanjay Rathod, Sanjay Shirsat, Shambhuraj Desai, Pratap Sarnaik, Prakash Abitkar, Ashish Jaiswal, Bharatshet Gogawale and Yogesh Kadam were among the Shinde Senawo ministers today.
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Ajit Pawar’s NCP saw Hasan Mushrif, Dhananjay Munde, Dattatray Bharne, Aditi Tatkare, Manikrao Kokate, Makarand Patil and Narhari Zirwal among others taking oath today in Nagpur.
The top leaders of the Mahayuti coalition are expected to give a few new faces a chance. “The Mahayutis may drop ministers who are not performing well, which may include 4 leaders from the Shinde camp, 3 from the BJP, and 2 from the Ajit Pawar group who were ministers before but may not retain their positions,” sources said. News18.
Sources earlier said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president JP Nadda had a brief discussion about the cabinet expansion in Maharashtra.
The extension will be done before the first day of the National Assembly’s Winter Session on 16 December.
Earlier this week, Fadnavis met senior BJP leadership in the national capital to discuss the Cabinet expansion.
Home Ministry Can Go To BJP
Sources had earlier said that the BJP is likely to retain the Home Ministry which has been at loggerheads with the Shiv Sena. The Shinde Sena was determined to retain the Home Ministry, considering that Eknath Shinde was demoted from Chief Minister in the previous government to Deputy CM in the new government.
Sources suggest that the Public Works Department (PWD) and Urban Development (UD) posts may be assigned to Shinde’s team. Meanwhile, Ajit Pawar is expected to retain the Finance portfolio.
Devendra Fadnavis was sworn in as Chief Minister on December 5, with Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar taking office as his deputies. In the November 20 Assembly elections, the Mahayuti coalition scored a stunning victory, winning 230 of the 288 seats in the state. The BJP was leading the charge with 132 seats, followed by Shinde’s Shiv Sena with 57 seats, and Pawar’s NCP with 41.
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