Maharashtra: 39 ministers take oath, could be replaced after 2.5 years

NAGPUR/MUMBAI: Ten days after Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and his deputies Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar took oath on December 5 in Mumbai, 39 legislators from the three ruling parties took oath as ministers and ministers of ‘State at Raj Bhavan in Nagpur. on Sunday. While 19 BJP MLAs took oath, the Shiv Sena and NCP inducted 11 and nine MLAs respectively. Of these 39 people, 33 are ministers and six are ministers of state. Fadnavis said the portfolio allocation would be done in the next two days.

Nagpur, December 15 (ANI): Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Deputy Chief Ministers Eknath Shinde, Ajit Pawar and Union Minister for Roads, Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari at Raj Bhavan for the ceremony swearing-in ceremony of the state cabinet, in Nagpur on Sunday. (ANI Photo) (Nitin Gadkari-X)

Eighteen of the 39 ministers who took the oath are newcomers; seven of them from the BJP, six from the Shiv Sena and five from the NCP. This caused some rumblings among senior Mahayuti leaders who were part of the previous government; However, the parties decided to resolve the imbroglio of rare places and numerous candidates by changing ministers after two and a half years. Eknath Shinde reportedly went so far as to obtain a commitment from his ministers that they would leave office after half a term. “We have a ‘do or perish’ policy,” he said. “Whoever plays will stay.”

Among the BJP ministers who took oath were Chandrashekhar Bawankule, Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, Pankaja Munde, Ashish Shelar, Ganesh Naik, Mangal Prabhat Lodha, Nitesh Rane and two women ministers of state, Madhuri Misal and Meghana Bordikar. Shiv Sena ministers include Uday Samant, Shambhuraj Desai, Bharat Gogawale and Sanjay Shirsat, along with two state ministers, Ashish Jaiswal and Yogesh Kadam. From the NCP, Hasan Mushrif, Dhananjay Munde, Aditi Tatkare and Narhari Zirwal took oath along with a state minister, Indranil Naik.

Together, the three parties removed 12 ministers out of the 29 from the previous government. While the BJP sacked senior leaders Sudhir Mungantiwar, Ravindra Chavan, Vijaykumar Gavit and Suresh Khade, the Shiv Sena dropped Tanaji Sawant, Deepak Kesarkar and Abdul Sattar – Sawant and Sattar were accused of corruption. against them, and the BJP had insisted on excluding them from the cabinet. Kesarkar and Sawant attempted to meet Shinde on Saturday but could not secure an audience despite waiting for five hours.

NCP chief Ajit Pawar was very fond of new faces, but senior leaders insisted on one more chance, which was ultimately refused by the party leadership. The NCP thus dropped senior leader Chhagan Bhujbal, Dilip Walse Patil, Anil Patil, Dharmarao Baba Atram and Sanjay Bansode. To soften the blow somewhat, the party will appoint one of the dismissed seniors as deputy speaker of the Assembly, which the BJP conceded to him. Walse Patil is likely to be pacified with a governorship, although this is yet to be confirmed by the BJP leadership.

If the BJP approves it, Walse Patil will be rehabilitated but the others will have to stay out of the government for some time as Ajit Pawar indicated at a party rally in Nagpur on Sunday morning. “It was decided to replace some ministers after two and a half years to make way for other faces,” he said. “There are fewer seats than the number of competent legislators in our three parties. To resolve this problem, we agreed to replace certain ministers after half a term. This will help us provide representation to all districts.

The Mahayuti government also managed to balance regions and castes by inducting new ministers. Marathwada, the region which allocated it the highest number of seats – 41 out of 46 – was allocated six ministerial berths, while western Maharashtra has the highest number of 10 ministers. Vidarbha has the second highest nine, Konkan, including Thane, has eight and North Maharashtra has seven representatives in the state cabinet. Ashish Shelar and Mangal Prabhat Lodha are the two inductees from the Mumbai quota.

Despite a tremendous response from the Ladki Bahin Yojana, only four women from two parties – the BJP and the NCP – got a place in the newly formed ministerial council. They are Pankaja Munde, Madhuri Misal and Meghana Mordikar of the BJP and Aditi Tatkare of the NCP. The Shiv Sena has not nominated any women MPs. The cabinet also tried to balance the caste equation by giving representation to Marathas, OBCs, Muslims, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

The cabinet expansion was delayed due to the tussle between the BJP and the Shiv Sena over distribution of departments. The Sena was pushing for housing, urban development and income while the BJP refused to concede the home department to another party. The expansion of the cabinet is timely, given that the winter session of Parliament begins on Monday. The opposition, which finds itself in its weakest position in recent history, is said to have tried to corner the government over the lack of ministers apart from the prime minister and his two deputies.

“Barring a few key departments like revenue and housing, most of the portfolios will be the same as those held by the three parties of the previous government,” said a BJP leader. The three parties also decided to divide up the boards of directors and statutory companies over the next three months.