Published 13:59 IST, January 2nd 2020
SCOOP: Finance for Ajit Pawar, Environment for Aaditya; possible portfolios list here
Amid resentments, infighting between parties over the cabinet expansion, the final list of portfolio allocation is expected to release by Thursday evening.
Amid resentments, infighting and surfacing reports of internal politics between parties in Maharashtra over the cabinet expansion, the final list of the portfolio allocation in the Uddhav Thackeray-led government is expected to be released by Thursday evening. On Monday, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray inducted a total of 36 ministers in his one-month-old coalition government comprising the Shiv Sena, NCP, and Congress.
After the delay in the portfolio allocation, sources revealed that Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar is likely to become the Finance Minister of the state, Shiv Sena's Aaditya Thackeray to possibly head the Environment & Tourism Ministry and Ashok Chavan is likely to get his way and be allocated with the PWD Ministry in Maharashtra. A rift broke out between the Maharashtra Congress over the allocation of portfolios. The senior party leaders including former Chief Ministers Prithviraj Chavan, Sushil Kumar Shinde, and leader Amin Patel have purportedly expressed their disappointment over the decision.
Here's a list of the possible scenario:
- Ajit Pawar, NCP - Finance, and planning
- Anil Deshmukh, NCP - Home
- Jayant Patil, NCP - Irrigation
- Dilip Valse Patil, NCP - Labour and Excise
- Chhagan Bhujbal, NCP - Food and Civil supplies
- Aaditya Thackeray, Shiv Sena - Environment and Tourism
- Eknath Shinde, Shiv Sena - Urban Development
- Subhash Desai, Shiv Sena - Industry
- Balasaheb Thorat, Congress - Revenue
- Ashok Chavan, Congress - PWD
- Amit Deshmukh, Congress - School Education or Power
- Nitin Raut, Congress - Wants Power portfolio
- Yashomati Thakur, Congress - Woman and Child Development
- Nawab Malik, NCP - Minority affairs
- Jitendra Awhad, NCP - Housing
On Monday, Ajit Pawar, for the second time, took oath as the Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister after his three-day stint in November with the short-lived Fadnavis government. Shiv Sena's 13 ministers (10 - cabinet, 3 - MoS), NCP's 13 ministers (10 - cabinet, 3 - MoS) and Congress' 10 ministers (8 - cabinet, 2 - MoS) took oath on Monday at 12 PM in the Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha.
Uddhav Thackeray was sworn in as the chief minister of Maharashtra on November 28 along with six ministers — two each from alliance partners the Shiv Sena, NCP, and Congress. This was preceded by an 80-hour CM stint by former CM Devendra Fadnavis, which fell after Ajit Pawar rescinded his support after the Supreme Court ordered an open ballot floor test in the Maharashtra Assembly immediately. Both Fadnavis and Pawar resigned, ushering in the Maha Vikas Aghadi government with Shiv Sena allying with NCP-Congress after a fallout with BJP over a 50-50 power-sharing and shared CM post.
Updated 16:31 IST, January 2nd 2020