Putting an end to the impasse over portfolio allocation, Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar was given the Finance and Planning portfolio on Friday, 12 days after he and eight other NCP MLAs were sworn in as ministers in the ruling Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government in Maharashtra.
While, NCP’s Chhagan Bhujbal got the Food and Civil Supplies ministry, Dilip Walse-Patil will be the Cooperation minister.
With the inclusion of 9 NCP ministers, there are 29 cabinet ministers in Maharashtra.
NCP will get the following departments:
- Finance and Planning – Ajit Pawar
- Cooperation – Diliprao Dattatray Walse-Patil
- Medical Education and Special Assistance – Hasan Mushrif
- Food and Civil Supply – Chhagan Bhujbal
- Women and Child Development – Aditi Tatkare
- Agriculture – Dhananjay Panditrao Munde
- Relief and Rehabilitation – Anil Patil
- Food and Drug Administration – Dharmaraobaba Atram
- Sports and Youth Welfare – Sanjay Bansode
Chief Minister Eknath Shinde will be responsible for the following departments: General Administration, Urban Development, Information and Technology, Information and Public Relations, Transport, Social Justice, Environment and Climate Change, Mining, and other departments not assigned to any specific minister.
Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will head Home, Law and Judiciary, Water Resources and Irrigation Development, Energy, and Parliamentary Affairs.
The redistribution of portfolios saw BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis (Finance and Planning), Girish Mahajan (Medical Education), Atul Save (Cooperation), Mangal Prabhat Lodha (Women and Child Welfare), Ravindra Chavan (Food and Civil Supplies) losing their previous departments. While on Shiv Sena’s front, Ekanth Shinde (Relief and Rehabilitation), Sanjay Rathod (Food and Drug Administration), Abdul Sattar (Agriculture) had to give up their departments.
The portfolios of the remaining 18 ministers are as follows:
1. Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil – Revenue, Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development
2. Sudhir Sachchidanand Mungantiwar – Forests, Cultural Affairs, and Fisheries
3. Chandrakantdada Patil – Higher and Technical Education, Textile, and Parliamentary Affairs
4. Vijaykumar Krishnarao Gavit – Tribal Development
5. Girish Dattatray Mahajan – Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Tourism
6. Gulabrao Patil – Water Supply and Sanitation
7. Dadaji Dagdu Bhuse – Public Works (Public Undertaking)
8. Sanjay Dulichand Rathod – Soil and Water Conservation
9. Suresh Bhaurao Dada Khade – Labor
10. Sandipan Asaram Bhumre – Employment Guarantee Scheme and Horticulture
11. Uday Ravindra Samant – Industries
12. Prof. Tanaji Jaywant Sawant – Public Health and Family Welfare
13. Ravindra Dattatray Chavan – Public Works (excluding Public Undertaking)
14. Abdul Sattar – Minority Development and Wakf, Panan
15. Deepak Vasantrao Kesarkar – School Education and Marathi Language
16. Atul Moreshwar Save – Housing, Other backward classes welfare, and skill development
17. Shambhuraj Shivajirao Desai – State Excise
18. Mangalprabhat Lodha – Skill Development, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation
The impasse over cabinet expansion and portfolio allotment was due to dispute over those promised to the NCP.
The Shiv Sena, led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, has been strongly opposing the move to hand over the finance ministry to Ajit Pawar, who they had been alleging, played a partisan role during the MVA regime.
