Devendra Fadnavis keeps Home ministry as Maharashtra govt allocates portfolios; Ajit Pawar and Eknath Shinde get…

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis retained the Home Ministry as portfolio allocations were announced on Saturday evening. Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar was allocated the Finance department while Eknath Shinde got the Urban Development portfolio. Mahayuti leaders had met on Friday to discuss the matter and later held a breakfast meeting with the CM on Saturday.

Fadnavis and his deputies had taken oath on December 5 after the ruling alliance secured a landslide return to power in the state. 39 ministers belonging to the BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP also took oath on December 15 — a day before the Winter Session of the state assembly began in Nagpur.

Who got what portfolio?
Here is a detailed list of portfolios allocated to the BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP leaders within the Maharashtra government:

Devendra Fadvavis — Home Ministry
Ajit Pawar — Finance
Eknath Shinde — Urban Development
Dhananjay Munde — Food and Civil Supplies
Ashok Uike — Tribal Development
Ashish Shelar — IT, Culture Department
Chandrashekhar Bawankule — Revenue
Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil — Water Resources
Hasan Mushrif — Medical Education
Chandrakant Patil — Higher and Technical Education
Ganesh Naik — Forests
Dada Bhuse — School Education
Uday Samant — Industries
Pankaja Munde — Environment
Manikrao Kokate — Agriculture
Aditi Tatkare — Women and Child Development
Jaykumar Gore — Rural Development
Sanjay Shirsat — Social Justice

Party leaders have repeatedly insisted in recent weeks that there was no discord within the alliance — will all Mahayuti leaders willing to abide by portfolios decisions.

Deputy CM Ajit Pawar had earlier indicated that some of the newly inducted Ministers would only hold their berths for 2.5 years — eventually handing over their roles to other hopefuls. The NCP chief told a gathering of party workers in Nagpur hours before the Cabinet expansion that they would also “give an opportunity to others for two-and-a-half years” during the current term.

(With inputs from agencies)