A total of 39 legislators from Mahayuti allies were sworn in on Sunday in the first cabinet expansion of the 10-day-old Devendra Fadnavis-led ministry including 16 new faces, while 10 former ministers were excluded.
Portfolios will be allocated in the next two to three days, the Chief Minister said.
While 33 legislators were sworn in as cabinet ministers, six took oath as ministers of state.
The new inductees will, however, have to perform with Mahayuti allies deciding to conduct a “performance audit” of ministers during their tenure, Fadnavis said.
Prominent leaders who couldn’t find a place in the new council of ministers include BJP’s Sudhir Mungantiwar, senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal, and Shiv Sena’s Abdul Sattar.
The council of ministers is a mix of old and new faces which reflects Fadnavis’ efforts in balancing caste equations including sections of Marathas, OBCs, SCs, and STs and striking a regional balance.
With the new inductees, the strength of the Fadnavis-led ministry has gone up to 42, including the CM and his deputies Eknath Shinde (Shiv Sena) and Ajit Pawar (NCP). One berth was kept vacant.
While the BJP secured 19 ministerial berths by virtue of being the largest among allies, Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party were allotted 11 and 9 berths, respectively.
Governor C P Radhakrishnan administered the oath to the new ministers at a ceremony held on the eve of the state legislature’s winter session in Nagpur.
Addressing a press conference after the cabinet was expanded on the eve of the winter session of the Maharashtra legislature, Fadnavis said Mahayuti allies have agreed to conduct a “performance audit” of ministers during their tenure.
While Fadnavis didn’t mention any timeline, Deputy CM and Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde said the ministers of his party will get two-and-a-half years and those who perform will progress.
Deputy Chief Minister and NCP leader Ajit Pawar said “non-performers” can be replaced in two-and-a-half months also.
Hours before the cabinet expansion ceremony, Pawar said that some of those who took oath would have a tenure of two-and-a-half-years, underlining constraints in accommodating aspirations of hopefuls.
Fadnavis said the Mahayuti government will start working towards developing Maharashtra.
“We have decided on the portfolio allocation and it will be announced in two to three days. Our administration will focus on swift development,” he said.
Fadnavis said he and his deputies- Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar- have told new ministers that they would be subjected to a performance audit.
“Performance audit of ministers will be done and all three of us have agreed to this,” he said.
The CM said those leaders of the BJP who couldn’t find a place in the Cabinet may be assigned an organisational role.
Shinde said he had decided at the Shiv Sena party level to give two-and-a-half years to new ministers.
“Those who work good will progress,” he added.
The BJP, which won the maximum 132 seats in the assembly elections, got the largest chunk of 16 ministers of Cabinet rank and three MoS. Shiv Sena was allotted nine positions as Cabinet ministers and two MoS, while the NCP will have eight ministers of Cabinet rank and a minister of state.
Among the new inductees, four are women, including Pankaja Munde, Madhuri Misal, and Meghna Bordikar of BJP and Aditi Tatkare of NCP.
Munde and Tatkare took oath as Cabinet ministers, and Bordikar and Misal as MoS.
Prominent leaders excluded in the new Cabinet are Bhujbal and Dilip Walse Patil of NCP, and Mungantiwar and Vijaykumar Gavit of BJP.
From Shiv Sena, former ministers Tanaji Sawant, Deepak Kesarkar, and Abdul Sattar were not re-inducted. Anil Patil, Sanjay Bandsode, and Dharmarao Baba Atram of NCP also missed the second chance.
The swearing-in ceremony at Raj Bhavan in Nagpur was conducted 33 years after the expansion of the Sudhakarrao Naik cabinet in 1991.
The Cabinet expansion saw the re-entry of state BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule, Jaykumar Raval, Pankaja Munde, and Ashok Uike who had served as ministers during Fadnavis’ first term from 2014 to 19.
Region-wise, a maximum of nine ministers are from the western Maharashtra region, followed by eight ministers from north Maharashtra, seven from Vidarbha, six from Marathwada, four from the Mumbai/Thane region, and five from the coastal Konkan region.
At the presser, Fadnavis slammed the opposition MVA for terming the Mahayuti government a “government of EVM”.
“Our government came to power because every vote has gone for Maharashtra. My government works by the Constitution and respecting the dignity of the Constitution is our priority,” the chief minister said.
Fadnavis announced an SIT probe into the murder of Massajog village sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh in Beed district.
“The case has been given to CID and an SIT will be set up. Culprits will be punished,” the CM said.
He said the violence in Parbhani was orchestrated and pointed out that the stone replica of the Constitution was desecrated by a mentally unstable person who has been arrested.
The CM said those leaders of the BJP who couldn’t find a place in the Cabinet may be assigned an organisational role.
Fadnavis said the Mahayuti government was ready to respond to all issues raised by the Opposition provided they do so in the legislature instead of speaking to the media.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)