Setting days-long speculations at rest, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday allocated the portfolios among the ministers of his cabinet while keeping the key home department for himself.
Among Fadnavis’s deputies, Ajit Pawar retained the finance portfolio while Eknath Shinde, who was reportedly lobbying for the home ministry, has got three ministries including the Urban Development.
Besides Home, the chief minister is in charge of Law and Judiciary, General Administration, Information and Publicity and other departments which are not allowed to any other ministers.
Shinde will also hold Housing and Public Works departments while Ajit Pawar will be in charge of Excise ministry, too.
The portfolios were allocated six days after the chief minister expanded his cabinet by inducting 39 ministers. Fadnavis, along with his deputies, had taken oath on December 5.
Mahayuti stormed back to power, winning 230 of the 288 seats, with BJP alone pocketing 132 seats. The Shiv Sena and the NCP bagged 58 and 41 seats, respectively.
There were reports that Shinde, who was the chief minister in the previous NDA government, had demanded some key portfolios including Home. The BJP, the single largest party, however, didn’t want to give away the plum department to its ally.
Among the BJP ministers, Chandrashekhar Bawankule got Revenue; Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil Water Resources- Krishna and Godavari Valley Development corporation; Chandrakant Patil Higher and Technical Education and Parliamentary affairs; Girish Mahajan Water Resources- Vidarbha , Tapi, Konkan Development Corporation and Disaster Management.
Other BJP ministers and portfolios
Ganesh Naik - Forests, Mangal Prabhat Lodha Skill Development, Employment, Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Jaykumar - Raval Marketing and Protocol
Pankaja Munde - Environment and Climate Change, Animal Husbandry
Atul Save - OBC Welfare, Dairy Development and Renewable Energy
Ashok Uike - Tribal Development
Ashish Shelar - Cultural Affairs and Information Technology,
Shivendrasinh Bhosale - Public Works
Jaykumar Gore - Rural Development and Panchayati Raj
Sanjay Savkare - Textiles
Nitesh Rane - Fisheries and Ports
Akash Fundkar - Labour
Shiv Sena ministers and portfolios
Gulabrao Patil - Water Supply and Sanitation
Dadaji Bhuse - School Education
Sanjay Rathod - Soil and Water Conservation
Uday Samant - Industries and Marathi language
Shambhuraj Desai - Tourism, Mining, Ex-servicemen Welfare
Sanjay Shirsat - Social Justice
Pratap Sarnaik - Transport
Bharat Gogawale - Employment Guarantee, Horticulture, Salt Pan Lands Development
Prakash Abitkar - Public Health and Family Welfare
NCP ministers' and portfolios
Hasan Mushrif - Medical Education
Dhananjay Munde - Food and Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection
Dattatrey Bharne - Sports ,Youth welfare and Minority Development
Aditi Tatkare - Women and Child Development
Manikrao Kokate - Agriculture
Narhari Zirwal - Food and Drug Administration, Special assistance
Makrand Patil - Relief and Rehabilitation
Babasaheb Patil - Cooperation.