Days after the continuous potshots by the Opposition that the Maharashtra government is being run by only two persons — Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis — a total of 18 MLAs had taken oath as ministers in Mumbai on Tuesday last.
Mumbai: Weeks after formation of Eknath Shinde-led government in Maharashtra, Chief Minister on Sunday announced cabinet portfolios for ministers who had recently taken oath. Maharashtra CM Ekanth Shinde kept 12 ministries with him including urban development, general administration, information and technology, information and public relations, public works, disaster management and other portfolios which were not given to any of the ministers.
Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis has been allocated, home, finance and planning, law and judiciary, water resources, housing, energy, protocol, etc. Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil has been given revenue, animal husbandry and dairy development. Forest, cultural affairs and fish business will be looked by Sudhir Mungntiwar. Another minister Chandrakant Dada Patil has been allocated higher and technical education, textile industries and parliamentary affairs.
Shiv Sena MLA Sanjay Rathod, whose inclusion in Eknath Shinde cabinet was openly criticised by Maharashtra BJP leaders moments after cabinet expansion, has been given food and drugs administration.
Days after the continuous potshots by the Opposition that the Maharashtra government is being run by only two persons — Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis — a total of 18 MLAs had taken oath as ministers in Mumbai on Tuesday last. The 18 new ministers had comprised nine each from BJP and Shiv Sena. It came 40 days after the Shinde-led faction’s rebellion forced Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to quit.
From the Shiv Sena Dada Bhuse, Sandeepan Bhumre, Uday Samant, Tanaji Sawant, Abdul Sattar, Deepak Kesarkar, Gulabrao Patil, Sanjay Rathod and Shambhuraje Desai had taken oath as ministers.
From the BJP it was Chandrakant Patil, Sudhir Mungantiwar, Girish Mahajan, Suresh Khade, Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, Ravindra Chavhan, Mangal Prabhat Lodha, Vijaykumar Gavit and Atul Save.
Ahead of the cabinet expansion, Shinde and the BJP had held several meetings. The Chief Minister also visited Delhi to discuss the expansion with Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
After the revolt against Uddhav Thackeray, rebel Shiv Sena MLA Eknath Shinde Eknath Shinde was sworn-in as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra on June 30.
After heightened political drama in Maharashtra for over a week, things had settled after the Supreme Court turned down a Shiv Sena plea to stop a floor test ordered by the Governor and subsequently, Uddhav Thackeray quit as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra. Thackeray announced his decision through a Facebook live and in some time, reached the Governor’s house and submitted his resignation.