Maharashtra cabinet portfolios announced; Fadnavis gets Home, Shinde 3 others
What's the story
After a delay since the oath-taking ceremony on December 5, the Maharashtra government has finalized the allocation of cabinet portfolios. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis retained key portfolios, including Home (which former CM Eknath Shinde had demanded), Energy (excluding renewable energy), Law and Judiciary, General Administration, and Information and Publicity. Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister Shinde was given charge of Urban Development, Housing, and Public Works ministries.
Portfolio distribution
Deputy CM Pawar assigned Finance Ministry
Ajit Pawar, the other deputy chief minister from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), was given the Finance Ministry along with Planning and State Excise. The portfolios were announced after the state legislature's winter session ended. The Mahayuti alliance, consisting of the BJP, Shinde's Shiv Sena faction, and Pawar's NCP faction, won over 230 of the state's 288 assembly seats in the recently held state elections.
Ministerial duties
BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP ministers' portfolios announced
Other portfolios allotted to the BJP are: Chandrashekhar Bawankule (Revenue), Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil (Water Resources), Chandrakant Patil (Higher and Technical Education), Girish Mahajan (Water Resources for Vidarbha and other regions). The Shiv Sena ministers got the following portfolios: Gulabrao Patil (Water Supply), Dadaji Bhuse (School Education), Sanjay Rathod (Soil Conservation). The NCP ministers got portfolios such as Hasan Mushrif (Medical Education), Dhananjay Munde (Food Supplies), Dattatrey Bharne (Sports and Youth Welfare).
Political dynamics
Cabinet expansion and opposition criticism
A total of 39 ministers were inducted to the new cabinet on December 15. They included 19 from BJP, 11 from Shiv Sena, and nine from NCP. However, opposition parties had criticized the delay in portfolio allocation. Uddhav Thackeray's Sena faction, Aaditya Thackeray, had remarked that "ministers have gotten their perks but no responsibility," calling it "a joke."