Maharashtra cabinet expansion: NCP’s Ajit Pawar gets finance & others…

Amid much political tension in Maharashtra, the nine new ministers who got inducted into chief minister Eknath Shinde led-Maharashtra cabinet last week, got their portfolios today.

Who gets what in cabinet expansion?

NCP leader Ajit Pawar has been assigned the key portfolio and will look after the finance and planning department. Chhaggan Bhujbal another senior leader will oversee the Food Civil Supply and Consumer Protection department, whereas Dharamraobaba Atram will look into Drug and Administration (FDA).

Dilip Walse Patil has been assigned to the Cooperation Department and Agriculture will be under the stewardship of Dhananjay Munde. Hasan Mushrif will manage the Medical Education department, while two departments Relief and Rehabilitation, as well as Disaster Management, will be led by Anil Patil.

The Women and Child Welfare department is given to Aditi Tatkare, with Sanjay Bansode receiving the Sports and Youth Welfare, and Port portfolios.

The allocations of the portfolios came as a result of a split between Ajit Pawar and his uncle and Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar and the subsequent induction of these nine MLAs into the ruling Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) coalition government last month.

The tweet of CMO Maharashtra reads:

The tweet reads, “The Chief Minister @mieknathshinde today announced the allocation of accounts of the newly appointed ministers in the state cabinet by making some changes in the portfolios of the existing ministers as well. This account allocation has been announced after approval by Governor Ramesh Bais. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has the portfolios of General Administration, Urban Development, Information and Technology, Information and Public Relations, Transport, Social Justice, Environment and Climate Change, Mining and any other unallocated portfolio. Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will hold the portfolios of Home, Law and Justice, Water Resources and Beneficial Sector Development, Energy, Royal Etiquette.”

Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar will hold the Finance and Planning portfolio.

Accounts of other 26 ministers are as follows:

• Chhagan Bhujbal – Food and Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection
• Diliprao Dattatraya Valse-Patil – Partnership
• Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil – Revenue, Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development
• Sudhir Satchidananda Mungantiwar- Forestry, cultural activities, and fisheries
• Hasan Mianlal Mushrif – Medical Education and Special Assistance
• Chandrakantada Bachu Patil – Higher and Technical Education, Textile Industry and Parliamentary Affairs
• Vijayakumar Krishnarao Gavit- Tribal Development
• Girish Dattatraya Mahajan- Village Development and Panchayat Raj, Tourism
• Gulabrao Patil- Water Supply and Sanitation
• Dadaji Dagdu Bhuse- Public Works (Public Enterprises)
• Sanjay Dulichand Rathore- Soil and Water Conservation
• Dhananjay Panditrao Munde – Agriculture
• Sureshbhau Dagdu Khade- Worker
• Sandipan Asaram Bhumre- Employment Guarantee Scheme and Horticulture
• Uday Ravindra Samant- Industry
• Prof. Tanaji Jaywant Sawant- Public Health and Family Welfare
• Ravindra Dattatraya Chavan – Public Works (Excluding Public Undertakings)
• Abdul Sattar- Minority Development and Auqaf, Panan
• Deepak Vasantrao Kesarkar- School Education and Marathi Language
• Dharmarao Baba Bhagwantrao Atram – Food and Drug Administration
• Atul Moreshwar Save – Housing, Other Backward and Bahujan Welfare
• Shambhuraj Shivajirao Desai- State Excise Duty
• Aditi Sunil Tatkare – Women and Child Development
• Sanjay Baburao Bansode – Sports and Youth Welfare, Bandre
• Mangalprabhat Lodha- Skill Development, Entrepreneurship and Innovation
• Anil Patil – Aid Rehabilitation, Disaster Management.