Mumbai:

Nearly two weeks after the Maharashtra oath ceremony, the cabinet portfolios were announced Saturday, with Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, the Chief Minister in the last government, landing three ministries – Urban Development, Housing and Public Works – but not the Home portfolio, which he was reportedly keen on.

Ajit Pawar, the second Deputy Chief Minister, was assigned the key Finance Ministry and State Excise portfolio. 

Chief Minister Devenda Fadnavis will hold home, energy excluding renewable energy, law and judiciary, general administration, information and publicity and departments/subjects not allowed to any other minister.

The portfolios were allocated after the weeklong winter session of the state Legislature ended earlier in the day. The strength of the Devendra Fadnavis-led cabinet is 42 against 43 permissible under the legislative norms.

Hours before the big announcement, state minister Girish Mahajan said that “he believes a unanimous decision has been reached” between Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and his Deputies over portfolio allocation.

The Mahayuti alliance of BJP, Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) won over 230 of the state’s 288 assembly seats, while opposition’s Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance of Congress, Uddhav Thackeray’s Sena faction and Sharad Pawar’s NCP faction could win only 46 seats.

Mr Fadnavis and his deputies – Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar – were sworn in on December 5, and 39 ministers were inducted ahead of the Winter Session on December 15.

Opposition parties alleged that the winter session of the Maharashtra legislature was held only for formality as ministers couldn’t resolve issues of farmers and others in the absence of portfolios.

Taking a swipe at the Devendra Fadnavis-led government, Uddhav Thackeray party leader Aaditya Thackeray today termed the delay in portfolio allocation “a joke”, saying that ministers have gotten their perks but no responsibility.

“All ministers got bungalows and cars but no responsibility. A joke is going on. No one wants to serve,” he told news agency ANI.

Portfolios allocated to BJP ministers are: Chandrashekhar Bawankule (Revenue), Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil (Water Resources- Krishna and Godavari Valley Development corporation), Chandrakant Patil (Higher and Technical Education, Parliamentary affairs), Girish Mahajan (Water Resources- Vidarbha , Tapi, Konkan Development Corporation and Disaster Management).

Ganesh Naik has been given Forests, Mangal Prabhat Lodha Skill Development, Employment, Entrepreneurship and Innovation; Jaykumar Raval Marketing and Protocol, Pankaja Munde Environment and Climate Change, Animal Husbandry; Atul Save OBC Welfare, Dairy Development and Renewable Energy.

Ashok Uike has been given Tribal Development, Ashish Shelar Cultural Affairs and Information Technology, Shivendrasinh Bhosale Public Works.

Jaykumar Gore has been given Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Sanjay Savkare Textiles, Nitesh Rane Fisheries and Ports, Akash Fundkar Labour.

Shiv Sena Ministers’ portfolios: Gulabrao Patil Water Supply and Sanitation, Dadaji Bhuse School Education, Sanjay Rathod Soil and Water Conservation, Uday Samant Industries and Marathi language, Shambhuraj Desai Tourism, Mining, Ex-servicemen Welfare, Sanjay Shirsat Social Justice, Pratap Sarnaik Transport, Bharat Gogawale Employment Guarantee, Horticulture, Salt Pan Lands Development; Prakash Abitkar Public Health and Family Welfare.

NCP ministers’ portfolios: Hasan Mushrif Medical Education, Dhananjay Munde Food and Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection, Dattatrey Bharne Sports ,Youth welfare and Minority Development and Aukaf, Aditi Tatkare Women and Child Development , Manikrao Kokate Agriculture.

Narhari Zirwal has been given Food and Drug Administration, Special assistance. Makrand Patil has been given Relief and Rehabilitation, while Babasaheb Patil was allocated Cooperation.

Mumbai:

Eleven key ministers from Maharashtra’s ruling alliance Mahayuti have been dropped from the brand new government headed by Devendra Fadnavis, giving rise to considerable disquiet among their supporters. Protests have broken out in pockets by supporters of some of the leaders – especially in Yeola by supporters of Chaggan Bhujbal.

Of the three constituents of the ruling alliance, Ajit Pawar’s faction of the Nationalist Congress Party have dropped the most – five of its key leaders, Chhagan Bhujbal, Dharmarao Baba Atram, Sanjay Bansode, Dilip Walse Patil and Anil Patil have been dropped. The corresponding number from the BJP and Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena are three each.

The BJP has dropped Ravindra Chavan, Sudhir Mungantiwar and Vijaykumar Gavit while the Sena has kept out Tanaji Sawant, Abdul Sattar and Deepak Kesarkar.

Chhagan Bhujbal has openly declared that he would not attend the assembly session any more and will return to Nashik, saying he has been disappointed. He also said he has been offered a Rajya Sabha seat but accepting it now will “not be fair” to the voters of Yeola.

The other big leader dropped, Sudhir Mungantiwar, has contradicted Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’s claim that he was dropped after a “long discussion”.

“We had a long discussion with Sudhir Mungantiwar on the expansion of the cabinet. If he does not get a ministerial berth, there is a possibility that he will be given some big responsibility by the party,” Mr Fadnavis had said.

Mr Mungantiwar refuted the claim, saying Devendra Fadnavis did not have a long discussion with him about the ministerial post. They spoke only spoke on the day of the expansion. Mr Fadnavis and state BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule had said that his name was on the list of ministers the day before the cabinet expansion, but it turned out otherwise, he added.

There are others who were apparently in the running for a cabinet berth but ended up empty-handed. The Sena especially is facing backlash, with one of its MLAs, Narendra Bhondekar, having already quit party posts.

Vijay Shivtare, the MLA from Purandar, said he was “not sad over ministership, but the treatment meted out”.

“The three leaders didn’t communicate properly. I will not take ministership even if given after 2.5 years,’ he told reporters, refering to the two-and-a-half-year formula for ministers who were inducted.

“Workers are not slaves. I am not needy, just the treatment was not good. Maharashtra is on the path of Bihar because we are not looking at regional balance but caste balance,” he added.

Prakash Surve, the MLA from Magathane, said he was the first MLA to join Mr Shinde after the rebellion.

“I am a simple man, achieved everything after a struggle and will continue to do so. Many who demanded (cabinet berths) are children of big names, I am not. Had to shift my family after I went with Shinde,” he said.

The murmurs of protest come amid Mr Bawankule’s assertion that there was no dispute over the allocation of cabinet portfolios. “There is no delay in allocating portfolios to the ministers. There is no dispute. I was also part of the talks and the matter stands finished. There is no dispute and it will be announced soon,” Mr Bawankule was quoted as saying by news agency IANS.

The new government has already promised audit of the new ministers. Mr Fadnavis, who made the announcement, said those from the Eknath Shinde cabinet not accommodated this time have been dropped because of their performance.

Twenty-Five new faces have found a place in the Cabinet — Chandrashekhar Bawankule, Ganesh Naik, Jaykumar Rawal, Pankaja Munde, Ashok Uike, Ashish Shelar, Dattatreya Bharne, Shivendraraje Bhosale, Manikrao Kokate, Jaykumar Gore, Narhari Jirwal, Sanjay Savkare, Sanjay Shirsat, Pratap Sarnaik, Bharat Gogavale, Makarand Patil, Nitesh Rane, Akash Fundkar, Babasaheb Patil, Prakash Abitkar, Madhuri Misal, Ashish Jaiswal, Pankaj Bhoyar, Meghna Bordikar, Indranil Naik.

Of the 39 ministers who took the oath, four women legislators have been inducted including Pankaja Munde, who had worked as the minister of woman and child welfare in the Devendra Fadnavis-led Cabinet between 2014 and 2019, Madhuri Misal and Meghana Bordikar (BJP) and Aditi Tatkare (NCP), who as the minister of woman and child welfare was involved in the implementation of the flagship Ladki Bahin Yojana ahead of the state assembly election.

Nagpur:

Senior BJP leader from Maharashtra, Sudhir Mungantiwar, on Monday, claimed his name had figured in the list of ministers who took the oath a day before but it was removed later.

A day after Mungantiwar failed to find a place in the expanded Devendra Fadnavis-led cabinet, the BJP leader said he was not upset and stressed he was an organisation man.

“I will continue to work for people of my constituency and highlight issues about their welfare in the legislative assembly,” the former forest minister told reporters in Nagpur.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis hinted that BJP leadership may assign another role to Mungantiwar.

“I had spoken to Mungantiwar. He is a senior leader and the leadership may entrust him with any other responsibility,” the chief minister said.

A total of 39 legislators of Mahayuti allies took oath as ministers- 33 of cabinet rank and six others as ministers of state- at Raj Bhavan in Nagpur on Sunday as part of the first expansion of the Fadnavis-led cabinet.

The BJP secured 19 ministerial berths, followed by 11 ministers of the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and 9 by Ajit Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

Mungantiwar claimed he was told earlier that his name was included in the list of ministers.

“There is no reason for me to be upset as I do my job in whatever role the party assigns to me. The only issue is that I was told that my name was there (in the list of ministers). But it wasn’t there yesterday. I don’t know why my name was removed,” the seven-time BJP MLA told reporters in Nagpur.

Mungantiwar didn’t attend the legislature session on the first day on Monday though he was in Nagpur.

When asked if the BJP leadership was upset with him, Mungantiwar said such things are not expressed by denying the ministerial position.

Queried if the BJP leadership was upset with him, he said they would call and speak to him if that is the case.

“Maybe the BJP has some other responsibility planned for me,” he added.

Mungantiwar met with Union minister and Nagpur MP Nitin Gadkari at the latter’s residence in Nagpur on Monday.

He described his meeting with Gadkari as the one between an elder brother and a younger brother.

“When such things come up I take his guidance,” he added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

The much-awaited cabinet expansion of the new Maharashtra government led by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis happened today. A total of 39 ministers took oath at a grand event in Nagpur. Among the newly inducted ministers, 19 are from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), nine from Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and 11 from Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena. 

Here is the full list of ministers who took oath today- 

Bharatiya Janata Party: 19

1. Chandrashekhar Bawankule
2. Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil
3. Chandrakant Patil
4. Girish Mahajan
5. Ganesh Naik
6. Mangalprabhat Lodha
7. Jaykumar Rawal
8. Pankaja Munde
9. Atul Save
10. Ashok Uike
11. Ashish Shelar
12. Shivendra Raje Bhosale
13. Jaykumar Gore
14. Sanjay Sawakare
15. Nitesh Rane
16. Akash Fundkar
17. Madhuri Misal (MoS)
18. Dr. Pankaj Bhoyar (MoS)
19. Meghana Bordikar Sakore (MoS)

Nationalist Congress Party: 9

1. Hasan Mushrif
2. Dhananjay Munde
3. Dattatraya Bharne
4. Aditi Tatkare
5. Manikrao Kokate
6. Narhari Zirwal
7. Makrand Jadhav Patil
8. Babasaheb Patil
9. Indranil Naik (MoS)

Shiv Sena : 11

1. Gulabrao Patil
2. Dada Bhuse
3. Sanjay Rathod
4. Uday Samant
5. Shambhuraje Desai
6. Sanjay Shirsat
7. Pratap Sarnaik
8. Bharat Gogawale
9. Prakash Abitkar
10. Ashish Jaiswal (MoS)
11. Yogesh Kadam (MoS)

After weeks of hectic parleys over the Chief Minister chair and then the ‘who-gets-what-ministry’, the new BJP-led government in Maharashtra is all set to expand its Cabinet today. The BJP, which holds the highest share of Cabinet berths, will likely induct 19 MLAs, including three women leaders, sources said.

The list of probable BJP leaders are:

Pankaja Munde

Meghna Bordikar

Madhuri Misal

Chandrashekhar Bawankule

Nitesh Rane

Shivendra Raje Bhosle

Chandrakant Patil

Pankaj Bhoir

Mangal Prabhat Lodha

Girish Mahajan

Jayakumar Rawal

Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil

Ganesh Naik

Atul Save

Aakash Fundkar

Ashok Uike

Jayakumar More

Sanjay Savkare

Ashish Shelar

According to sources, Maharashtra may have 40 ministers in its new Cabinet, with 50 per cent of new and young faces likely to be inducted. The council of ministers in the state can have a maximum of 43 members, including the Chief Minister.

While former Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena may get around 12 Cabinet seats, Ajit Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) may get 10 seats, sources. At least six new leaders from the Shiv Sena are likely to take oath as ministers – Pratap Sarnaik, Prakash Abitkar, Sharat Gogavale, Yogesh Kadam, Ashish Jaiswal, and Sanjay Shirsat.

Mr Shinde’s Sena faction is believed to want the Home portfolio, which was previously held by Devendra Fadnavis. However, the BJP is unlikely to give it up and keep it to themselves, sources said. The Sena may be offered Urban Development, Public Works Department, and Revenue.

The Cabinet expansion will take place today at 4 pm in Nagpur.

In the November 20 assembly elections, the Mahayuti won 230 out of 288 seats in the state. While the BJP secured 132 seats, the Sena bagged 57 and NCP got 41 seats. On December 5, Devendra Fadnavis took oath as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra with former Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and NCP leader Ajit Pawar as his deputies.

The Mahayuti alliance had also come under fire from the opposition for not naming its Cabinet for weeks despite having an overwhelming majority.

Ahead of the Cabinet expansion, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis held a roadshow in Nagpur. He was accompanied by his wife Amruta Fadnavis and state BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule.

“Nagpur city is my family and my family is welcoming me,” he said during the roadshow.

Mumbai:

Hoping to repeat the BJP’s success in Haryana, the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP coalition in Maharashtra, which is seen as facing an uphill battle in the Assembly polls expected to be held later this year, has reached out to two key groups – the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs).

On Thursday, the Maharashtra cabinet took several key decisions, including approving an ordinance giving constitutional status to the state Scheduled Caste Commission and giving its nod to a proposal urging the Centre to hike the income criterion for inclusion in the creamy layer among OBCs from Rs 8 lakh a year to Rs 15 lakh.

A statement from the office of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said the cabinet approved a draft ordinance to accord constitutional status to the Maharashtra State Scheduled Caste Commission. The ordinance, the statement said, would be tabled in the next session of the state legislature and added that 27 posts had been approved for the panel.

A proposal to request the Union government to increase the income limit for inclusion in the ‘creamy layer’ category to Rs 15 lakh per year from the current Rs 8 lakh was also passed. 

A non-creamy layer certificate, stating that the family income of a person is below the prescribed limit, is needed to get reservation benefits in the OBC category.

Lok Sabha Learnings?

The opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance in the state, which comprises the Congress, the Sharad Pawar faction of the NCP and the Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena, had stunned the ruling coalition, known as the Mahayuti, by winning 30 of Maharashtra’s 48 Lok Sabha seats. The BJP, whose tally was 23 in the last general elections, was reduced to just nine while the Ajit Pawar-led NCP managed to win only one seat.

One of the reasons attributed to the Maha Vikas Aghadi’s big victory was that it managed to get its caste combinations right and Thursday’s cabinet decisions are seen as a way of making a dent in that. The decisions are also being read as a means of blunting the Congress and the INDIA alliance’s attack on the NDA during the Lok Sabha elections that it wanted to end reservations and was seeking over 400 seats to do so. 

The BJP eventually managed to win 240 constituencies while the NDA was comfortably over the majority mark of 272 seats with a tally of 293. 

Ahead of the elections in Haryana, where the BJP was perceived to be on the back foot after ruling the state for two consecutive terms, the state government had hiked the creamy layer ceiling from Rs 6 lakh to 8 lakh. The decision is seen as having contributed to the party managing to defy exit poll predictions and beat anti-incumbency to win 48 seats, two more than the majority mark in the 90-member Assembly.

Mumbai:

The Maharashtra cabinet today cleared a proposal to change the British-era names of eight suburban railway stations in Mumbai.

The decision was taken at the cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

These eight stations are located on the Western, Central and Harbour lines of Mumbai’s suburban network operated by the Central Railway and the Western Railway.

As per the proposal, Currey Road station will be renamed as Lalbaug, Sandhurst Road station as Dongri, Marine Lines station as Mumbadevi, Charni Road station as Girgaon, Cotton Green station will be Kalachowki, Dockyard Road station as Mazgaon and Kings Circle as Tirthankar Parshwanath.

Sandhurst Road station has been considered as two stations as it serves both Central and Harbour lines.

After the legislative sanction, the proposal will be sent to the Union Home Ministry and the Railway Ministry.

The state government has already sent a proposal to rename Mumbai Central station as Nana Jagannath Shankarsheth station to the Union government.

In 2017, the Union government renamed the Elphinstone Road suburban station in the city, which took its name from Lord Elphinstone, Governor of Bombay Presidency from 1853 to 1860, as Prabhadevi station after the nearby Prabhadevi temple.

A few days before that, the name of the iconic Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus in south Mumbai was modified with the addition of honorific ‘Maharaj’. After the addition, it became Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT). It was once known as Victoria Terminus, after Queen Victoria of Great Britain.
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)