In Maharashtra, Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari administered the oath of office and secrecy to 18 MLAs as ministers in the state cabinet. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Leader of Opposition Ajit Pawar were present for the ceremony.
AIR correspondent reports that the much-awaited cabinet expansion of the Maharashtra government took place at Raj Bhavan in Mumbai this morning. 9 MLAs each from Shivsena’s Eknath Shinde led faction and those from the BJP were sworn in.
BJP’s legislators who have been inducted in the cabinet include State BJP president Chandrakant Patil, Mumbai BJP President Mangal Prabhat Lodha, former leader of opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe – Patil, former Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantivar, Girish Mahajan among others. While from Shinde’s Shiv Sena faction Dada Bhuse, Shambhuraje Desai, Uday Samant, Gulabrao Patil , Deepak Kesarkar, Sanjay Rathod have got ministerial berths in the State Cabinet. They were also minister in the Uddhav Thackeray led Government.
Not a single member of the legislative council is included in the Government. State BJP vice President Chitra Wagh expressed her displeasure over induction of Sanjay Rathod, who is accused in murder of a girl. While Shivsena’s member of Parliament Priyanka Chaturvedi and NCP’s Member of Parliament Supriya Sule registered protest over non-inclusion of women MLA as Minister.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has congratulated all those who took oath as Ministers in the Maharashtra Government on. In a tweet, Mr. Modi said this team is a great blend of administrative experience and the passion to deliver good governance. He extended best wishes to them for serving the people of the state
