NEW DELHI, Dec 21: Nearly two weeks after the Devendra Fadnavis cabinet in Maharashtra was expanded with swearing-in of 39 ministers, 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 retains the key Finance Ministry portfolio which he held even in the last Shinde cabinet. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis kept the Home, Energy and Law Ministries.
Hours before the big announcement, state minister Girish Mahajan said he believed that “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. While 33 legislators were sworn in as cabinet ministers, six took oath as ministers of state but none of the ministers or the deputy chief ministers were so far allocated any portfolio, reportedly because of the tussle between the alliance partners over some key portfolios.
After tense negotiations, the final list saw BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis retaining the Home Ministry, apart from taking the portfolios of Energy (excluding Renewable Energy), Law and Judiciary, General Administration, Information and Publicity (and departments not allotted to any other minister. Shiv Sena leader and deputy CM Shinde got the portfolios of Urban Development, Housing, and Public Works (Public Enterprises).
NCP leader and deputy CM Ajit Pawar got the important Finance and Planning Ministry, along with State Excise. Maharashtra BJP President Chandrashekhar Bawankule became the state revenue minister, as per the latest allocation. BJP’s Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil was assigned the portfolio of Water Resources (Godavari and Krishna Valley Development Corporation, while NCP’s Hasan Mushrif got the Medical Education Ministry.
BJP’s Chandrakant Patil was assigned the Higher and Technical Education Ministry as well as Parliamentary Affairs, while Girish Mahajan was assigned the responsibility of Water Resources (Vidarbha, Tapi, Konkan Development Corporation) as well as Disaster Management.
Earlier in the day, Fadnavis told reporters that the portfolio allocation of his ministry would take place either later in the day, or on Sunday. “Portfolio distribution can take place by tonight or tomorrow morning,” Fadnavis had said.
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 said.
(Manas Dasgupta)