Maharashtra Cabinet: 11 ministers sworn in, Sena chief skips ceremony

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis expanded his cabinet on Friday, with 11 ministers, including 10 new faces taking oath at the swearing-in ceremony held in Mumbai.

While two leaders from the Shiv Sena party got Cabinet berths, party chief Uddhav Thackeray did not attend the ceremony. Shiv Sena had earlier expressed its unhappiness at being ignored in the Narendra Modi Cabinet expansion and reshuffle.

Six legislators who were sworn-in as Cabinet ministers, including Ram Shinde who was elevated to the rank. He was earlier Minister of State for Home (rural).

Sena MLAs Arjun Khotkar, from Jalna in Marathwada region, and Gulabrao Patil, from Jalgaon in north Maharashtra, were inducted in the ministry as junior ministers.

Patil hails from former BJP minister Eknath Khadse's home turf Jalgaon, while Khotkar belongs to Jalna, the native district of state BJP president Raosaheb Danve.

BJP's pre-poll alliance partners Swabhimani Party and Rashtriya Samaj Party (RSP) also found berth with the swearing-in of Sadabhau Khot and Mahadev Jankar, respectively. Jankar took oath as Cabinet minister.

The BJP legislators sworn-in as Cabinet ministers include former state party president Pandurang Fundkar, Dondaicha (Dhule) MLA Jaykumar Rawal, Sambhaji Patil Nilangekar from Nilanga and Solapur MLA Subhash Deshmukh.

BJP legislators Ravindra Chavan and Madan Yerawar were sworn in as Ministers of State. The other five, including two of Shiv Sena, two of BJP
and one of another alliance partner, were sworn-in as MoS.

According to sources, Thackeray has asked for the elevation of a minister of state to a Cabinet minister for which Mr Fadnavis is not ready. However, in a late night development on Thursday, the Chief Minister assured Shiv Sena that it would get the home department portfolio.

Senior Shiv Sena ministers Diwakar Raote and Subhash Desai had met Mr Fadnavis and Mr Thackeray separately. A stormy meeting of party legislators was held at Matoshree (Uddhav's residence), at which it was decided that they would participate in the Cabinet expansion. Sources said that several legislators were opposed to joining the Cabinet.

They cited that the party was insulted by BJP president Amit Shah before the Union Cabinet expansion. However, their voices were drowned out by the party ministers. The ministers succeeded in convincing Mr Thackeray to accept the chief minister’s offer.

The portfolios were rendered vacant after the resignation of senior minister Eknath Khadse over corruption charges last month.

Tags: shiv sena, cabinet expansion, uddhav thackeray