The much-awaited cabinet expansion took place in Maharashtra as Governor Ch. Vidyasagar Rao administered the oath of office and secrecy to eight cabinet ministers and five ministers of state at a swearing-in ceremony held on the lawns of Raj Bhavan, Mumbai on Sunday morning.
Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, Jaidutt Kshirsagar, Ashish Shelar, Sanjay Kute, Dr Suresh Khade, Dr Anil Bonde, Ashok Uike and Dr Tanaji Savant were administered oath as cabinet ministers.
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Yogesh Sagar, Avinash Mahatekar, Sanjay alias Bala Bhegade, Dr Parinay Phuke and Atul Save were sworn in as ministers of state at Sunday’s cabinet expansion.
Among the newly sworn in ministers, names of Vikhe Patil and Kshirsagar assume significance as both of them dumped the Congress and the NCP respectively to join the BJP and the Shiv Sena. Vikhe Patil's entry into state cabinet has given much necessary strength to the BJP in Ahmednagar district as well as among Maratha sugar barons.
Kshirsagar, too, was keen to join the BJP but his friends in the BJP convinced him that BJP already has a strong presence in Beed district thanks to Munde family. Pankaja Munde is a senior cabinet minister while her younger sister Pritam is the MP. Kshirsagar was advised to join the Sena as it doesn't have a strong face in Beed. Kshirsagar was upset in the NCP and felt sidelined after the rise of Dhananjay Munde who is the leader of opposition in the state legislative council.
Interestingly Vikhe Patil and Kshirsagar were the first two ministers to be sworn in on Sunday.
Mumbai BJP president Ashish Shelar has been rewarded with a cabinet berth because of his successful leadership of the party in the 2014 assembly elections, 2017 municipal elections and the recent parliamentary elections. Shelar made sure that the BJP emerged very close to the Sena in the crucial municipal elections in which both the parties fought as rivals.
Sanjay Kute, a third term legislator has been inducted into the cabinet because of his deep understanding of farmers issues and agrarian crisis in the state. It won't be a surprise if Kute is given agriculture portfolio.
Suresh Khade has been rewarded for taking the BJP deep into Sangli district. Sangli, a fiefdom of the Congress and the NCP, elected a BJP MP for the first time in 2014 thanks to efforts of BJP workers like Khade.
Ministers Anil Bonde, Ashok Uike and minister of state Parinay Fuke, all from Vidarbha, have been inducted as part of the BJP plan to entrench itself further in the region. Among them, Dr Parinay Fuke is known to be very close to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
