The wait is over for Maharashtra. On the 23rd day of the Maharashtra Assembly election results, the cabinet expansion took place in Nagpur on Sunday. In the Fadnavis government, 33 cabinet ministers and 6 ministers of state were sworn in. The number went up to 42, including the CM and 2 deputy CMs. A total of 43 ministers can take oath in the cabinet. One seat has been kept vacant.
In the Fadnavis government, 19 ministers have been included from BJP, 11 Shiv Sena and 9 NCP quota. These include 4 women (3 BJP, 1 NCP) and 1 Muslim (NCP). The youngest minister in the cabinet is NCP’s Aditi Tatkare (36 years) and the oldest minister is BJP’s Ganesh Naik (74 years).
BJP’s Pankaj Bhoyar (PhD) is the most educated minister. Shiv Sena’s Bharat Gogawale is the least educated (8th pass) minister. The cabinet includes two ministers between 30-40 years, 12 between 40-50 years, 12 between 50-60 years and 13 above 60 years of age.
CM and Deputy CM’s press conference after cabinet expansion
CM Devendra Fadnavis said that the performance audit of the ministers will be done. Whose performance will not be good. We’ll rethink about them. Meanwhile Deputy CM Ajit Pawar said that the portfolios will be given to the ministers in two to three days. Deputy CM Eknath Shinde said that I and Fadnavis had said that together we will bring 200 seats. The bonus came with the arrival of Dada (Ajit Pawar). I will stand firmly behind Fadnavis,” he said.
According to media reports, 39 MLAs have taken oath as ministers. State BJP chief Chandra Shekhar Bawankule, Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, Ashish Shelar, Chandrakant Patil, Girish Mahajan, Ganesh Naik, Mangal Pratap Lodha, Jaykumar Rawal, Pankaja Munde and Atul Save were among the ministers who took oath.
BJP gets massive majority in Maharashtra
The Mahayuti alliance won 230 seats in the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly. BJP has emerged as the strongest party in this election. Of the 288 seats, only the BJP managed to win 132 seats, while the Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) managed to win 57 seats and Ajit Pawar’s party NCP managed to win 41 seats.
