Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis went ahead with his cabinet expansion today — more than three weeks after the assembly election results were declared. Multiple ministers took oath at a programme in Nagpur — his constituency — this evening. Maharashtra can have a maximum of 43 ministers.
On December 5, Mr Fadnavis had taken oath as the Chief Minister and Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar as his deputies at a programme in Mumbai that was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, other BJP stalwarts and allies.
The delay in the cabinet expansion was fallout of the tussle over portfolios.
While former Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had to settle for the post of Mr Fadnavis’s Deputy this time, his party had been hoping to skim off the cream of the portfolios, including the home ministry, which the BJP was unwilling to accept.
Ever since Mr Fadnavis became Chief Minister for the first time, he has been handling the home portfolio. He handled it even when Mr Shinde was the Chief Minister.
NDTV News-India-news