The meeting between Eknath Shinde and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar reportedly lasted for an hour and a half and took place at the CM’s ‘Varsha’ bungalow. (PTI)
Maharashtra cabinet expansion: According to the buzz in the political circles of Maharashtra, some of the sitting ministers may have to leave their portfolios. Ajit Pawar himself likely to get the revenue department
Maharashtra cabinet detail The allocation of portfolios was discussed in a late night meeting between Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar. The meeting, which reportedly lasted for one and a half hours, took place at the CM’s ‘Varsha’ bungalow.
According to the buzz in the political circles of Maharashtra, some sitting ministers may have to leave their portfolios. Ajit Pawar himself is likely to get the revenue department.
sources told News18 That cabinet expansion can happen anytime in the next two days. Ten new ministers are likely to join, including Sanjay Shirsat and Bharat Gogavale.
Sources said that in the meeting with CM Shinde, some MLAs said that the caste equation should be kept in mind while inducting new MLAs in the cabinet.
Many legislators were of the opinion that leaders like Uday Samant, Dada Bhuse, Sanjay Rathod, Shambhuraj Desai, Abdul Sattar and Deepak Kesarkar were given responsibilities as cabinet ministers or ministers of state in 2014, 2019 and 2022. That’s why this time new faces should be included in the cabinet and portfolios of senior ministers should be given to new faces.
Sources say that even in the BJP, the situation is a bit turbulent. Though the dissidence in the party is not as visible as it is in the Shiv Sena, many leaders are keen to know whether he will find a place in the cabinet this time.
According to some leaders, BJP MLAs like Sanjay Kute, Madhuri Misal, Ashish Shelar and Nitesh Rane are some of the possible names who may get cabinet berths or responsibilities as ministers of state in the cabinet expansion.
In June last year, a rebellion by Shiv Sena’s Eknath Shinde and 39 other MLAs against the party leadership led to a split in the party and the fall of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government.
Shinde later became the chief minister with the support of the BJP. On July 2 this year, Ajit Pawar led a split in the Sharad Pawar-founded NCP, and joined the Shinde-BJP government as deputy chief minister. Eight other NCP MLAs also took oath as ministers in the state cabinet.
