The much-awaited cabinet expansion of the Devendra Fadnavis-led government in Maharashtra saw 39 ministers take oath at a ceremony in Nagpur on Sunday. But the ministers were included with a rider: Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said their tenure would be two-and-a-half years, and their continuation would depend on a review.
While many in the ruling coalition see it as fixing accountability and pressuring ministers to act after winning powerful mandates in recent assembly elections, the midterm change will also give hope to other legislators who didn’t make the cut this time around. around
We have decided to give two and a half years of responsibility to some ministers and state ministers in this government. This will ensure opportunities for more leaders and justice to more districts,” Pawar said at an event organized by the NCP ahead of the swearing-in ceremony.
Pawar said all three top leaders — Chief Minister Fadnavis, Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and himself — have unanimously agreed to the arrangement.
Maharashtra BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule took oath as the state’s cabinet minister. (PTI)
Sources in the Shinde-led Shiv Sena confirmed that a similar message was given to those taking oath on Sunday.
The statement comes against the backdrop of possible discontent among a section of legislators who have been kept out of the ministry and with warnings to hold back, demonstrate or destroy newly recruited ministers.
The ruling coalition has won the election with a huge majority. That should not let the ministers go unnoticed. This is not a warning but a reminder to perform well,” an NCP leader said after the swearing-in ceremony.
who 39 MLAs have taken oath 33 people were sworn in as Cabinet Ministers and 6 as Ministers of State by Governor CP Radhakrishnan. The total strength of the state cabinet, including the chief minister and two deputy chief ministers, has now reached 42, which is one less than the sanctioned limit. This is the first time since the 2019 assembly elections that the state is running a cabinet with its full powers.
Among newly inducted ministers, BJP has 19 (16 cabinet and 3 ministers of state) ministers, followed by Shiv Sena with 11 (9 cabinet and two ministers of state) and NCP 9 (8 cabinet and one minister of state).
Taking a surprising step, all the three ruling parties have removed the senior ministers of the previous cabinet. Sudhir Mungantiwar, Ravindra Chavan, Vijay Kumar Gavit and Suresh Khade have left the BJP. Tanaji Sawant, Deepak Kesarkar and Adbul Sattar have been removed from the Shiv Sena, while Chhagan Bhujbal, Dilip Walse-Patil, Dharmarao Atram, Anil Patil and Sanjay Bansode have not been included from the NCP.
The first-time cabinet ministers include Nitesh Rane, Shivendrasingh Bhosle, Jayakumar Gore, Sanjay Savkare and Akash Phundkar from the BJP. Pratap Sarnaik, Sanjay Shirsat, Bharat Gogawale, Prakash Abitkar from Shiv Sena became ministers for the first time, while Narhari Jirwal, Makarand Jadhav-Patil and Babasaheb Patil from NCP took oath as ministers for the first time.
The sixth state minister also came for the first time. They are Madhuri Misal, Pankaj Bhoyer and Meghna Bordikar (BJP); Ashish Jaiswal and Yogesh Kadam (Shiv Sena); and Indranil Naik (NCP).
As the ruling coalition tries to maintain regional balance, 15 districts of the province are not represented in the Council of Ministers. Of these, seven are in Vidarbha region, four in Marathwada, two in western Maharashtra, one each in north Maharashtra and Thane-Konkan region.
Midterm exams, hope for others
Under the pressure of fulfilling the expectations of the people by giving a big mandate, the leaders of the Mahayuti have come up with a new idea of appointing ministers for two and a half years. While this is expected to put pressure on ministers to stand up for work, it will also give hope to those who have missed out this time. Mahayuti won 230 out of 288 seats in the recent assembly elections.
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