Maha Cabinet: Bjp Takes The Cake, Shinde Group Settles For Crumbs (ld)

Mumbai 14 August : Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has on Sunday assigned portfolios in the state Cabinet, which has 20 members, with allies Bharatiya Janata Party grabbing a majority of the sought-after ministerial positions.
Shinde will be in charge of Urban Development, GAD, IT, PWD (Public Projects), Transport and other departments, according to an announcement made by the government.

Devendra Fadnavis, Deputy Chief Minister, is given a variety of large portfolios.This includes the vital Home, Finance and Planning, Law and Justice, Water Resources, Energy, Housing and Protocol.

The long-awaited distribution of portfolios took place just five days after the CM extended the Cabinet by appointing 18 ministers, including nine each of Shiv Sena Shinde Group and BJP however there aren’t any women in the cabinet at present, following Shinde and Fadnavis were sworn in on June 30.

The allocation to the portfolio was announced following the approval of Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari.This was even being the Leader of Opposition NCP’s Ajit Pawar as well as the Congress and the Shiv Sena took regular potshots at Shinde-Fadnavis over the delay in the assignment of responsibilities to ministers.

The BJP’s part in portfolios:

Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil Revenue, Dairy Development and Animal Husbandry
Sudhir Mungantiwar Sudhir Mungantiwar Forests, Cultural Affairs and Fisheries
Chandrakant Patil – Higher and Technical Education, Textiles and Parliamentary Affairs
Vijaykumar Gavit – Tribal Development
Girish Mahajan Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Medical Education, Sports and Youth Welfare
Mangal Prabhat Lodha Tourism Entrepreneurship and Skill Development, Women and Child Development
Ravindra Chavan – Public Works (excluding Public Enterprises), Food & Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection
Atul Save – Cooperation, Other Backward and Bahujan Welfare
Suresh Khade – Labour.

Shinde Group’s part in portfolios:

Gulabrao Patil – Water Supply and Sanitation
Dadaji Bhuse Dadaji Bhuse Ports and Mines
Sanjay Rathod – Food and Drug Administration
Sandipan Bhumre Sandipan Bhumre Employment Guarantee Scheme and Horticulture
Uday Samant – Industry
Tanaji Sawant – Public Health and Family Welfare.
Abdul Sattar – Agriculture
Deepak Kesarkar – School Education & Marathi Language
Shambhuraj Desai – State Excise

The other ministries that are not assigned to anyone will be managed by Shinde until the next round of Cabinet expansion, scheduled for the next Legislature Session.

This includes Information and Public Relations; Marketing; Social Justice and Special Assistance as well as and Rehabilitation and Rehabilitation; Disaster Management; Soil and Water Conservation; Environment and Climate Change; Minority and Wakf.

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