Maha cabinet expansion: CM Shinde retains Urban Development, Deputy Fadnavis gets Home; know entire list here
Five days after inducting 18 ministers to his cabinet, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde distributed portfolios on Sunday. Fadnavis will handle the Home and Finance and Planning, as per Chief Minister's Office (CMO) statement.
FollowFive days after the induction of 18 ministers to his cabinet, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde allocated portfolios on Sunday, keeping Urban Development and 11 other ministries for himself while handing over the Crucial Home Ministry to Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis.
According to a statement from the Chief Minister's Office (CMO), Fadnavis will also be in charge of Finance and Planning.
Another important portfolio, the Revenue Department, has been given to Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who left the Congress a few months before the 2019 Assembly elections to join the saffron party.
Shinde expanded his two-member ministry on Tuesday, 41 days after taking office, by inducting 18 ministers, nine from his rebel Shiv Sena group and nine from the BJP. However, there were no women on the list.
CM Shinde has retained the General Administration Department, Public Works Department (public sector undertakings), Information and Public Relations, Transport, Marketing, Social Justice, Disaster Management, Relief and Rehabilitation, Soil and Water Conservation, Environment and Climate Change, and Minority Development in addition to the Urban Development Department.
In addition to Home and Finance and Planning, Fadnavis will also handle the portfolios of Law and Judiciary, Water Resources, Housing, Energy, and Protocol.
Chandrakant Patil, who is close to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, was given the ministries of Higher and Technical Education, Textiles, and Parliamentary Affairs. He was previously handling the PWD and Cooperation ministries.
Sudhir Mungantiwar has allocated the Forest, Fisheries Development, and Cultural Affairs portfolios. During his tenure from 2014 to 2019, he was in charge of Finance and Planning and the Forest Ministry.
Atul Save of the BJP has been given the Cooperation and OBC Welfare ministries, while Ravindra Chavan has been given the PWD, Food and Civil Supplies, and Consumer Protection ministries. Both of them have previously served as Ministers of State.
Former Mumbai BJP chief Mangal Prabhat Lodha has been given the ministries of Tourism Development, Skill Development, and Women and Child Development.
Girish Mahajan, Fadnavis' close confidante, has been given the ministries of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Medical Education, Sports and Youth Development.
Dr Vijaykumar Gavit has been given the Tribal Development Ministry, while Suresh Khade, a BJP MLA from western Maharashtra, has been assigned the Labour Ministry.
Deepak Kesarkar, a Shiv Sena rebel led by Shinde, is the new School Education Minister.
Gulabrao Patil will continue to oversee Water Supply and Sanitation, while Dada Bhuse, who previously held Agriculture, will now handle Ports and Mining. Abdul Sattar has been given Agriculture department.
Previously the minister of Higher and Technical Education, Uday Samant, handled the Industries portfolio.
Sanjay Rathod, a controversial Shinde camp leader, will handle the Food and Drugs Department. Rathod resigned as forest minister when Uddhav Thackeray was chief minister after BJP leaders blamed him for a woman's suicide.
While Tanaji Sawant has been given the responsibility of the Public Health and Family Welfare department, Shambhuraj Desai will be in charge of the Excise department, and Sandipan Bhumre will handle the Employment Guarantee Scheme and Horticulture ministries.
(With inputs from PTI)
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