25 days after CM & Deputy CM oath, Maharashtra didn’t get a cabinet

Maharashtra is yet to get a cabinet even after 25 days of taking oath as the Chief Minister and Deputy CM. Eight former ministers in the Shinde Sena faction, among other candidates; The opposition alleged delay in flood relief.

It has been 25 days since Devendra Fadnavis (Deputy Chief Minister) and Eknath Shinde (Maharashtra Chief Minister) took the oath but did not get into the cabinet. 

Since then, the two have visited Delhi four times and talked to top BJP leaders about the expansion of the Council of Ministers. 

But, in view of the rebel Shiv Sena camp and the high number of candidates from both the BJP sides, the exercise has been put on hold. 

However, the extension of the cabinet is anticipated this week as the monsoon session of the state meeting is eventually to be held in the starting week of August and the rival party is using the ongoing circumstances to blame the government of Maharashtra for restraining respite work. 

According to insiders of the state hit by constant rains, on Monday both Devendra Fadnavis and Eknath Shinde are expected to meet the Bharatiya Janata Party’s central leadership in New Delhi. 

Both reached Delhi (the national capital of India) to take part in the oath-in ceremony of President Draupadi Murmu.

BJP and Shinde

It is yet to be seen how Shinde and the BJP register a large number of candidates in the Council of Ministers, which can have a maximum of 43 ministers, including the Chief Minister and Deputy CM. 

In the rebel Shiv Sena camp, barring Shinde, there are eight former ministers – four cabinet ministers and four ministers of state (MoS) – from the previous Uddhav Thackeray-led administration. 

According to Shinde camp insiders, former state minister and independent MLA Bacchu Kadu has been promised a place in the cabinet. There are also elders in the Shinde camp like Tanaji Sawant of Osmanabad district and Deepak Kesarkar of Sindhudurg. 

Both of them were ministers in the BJP-Shiv Sena government that was in power from 2014 to 2019. 

The incumbent CM also has to grapple with the aspirations of Sanjay Rathod, Forest Minister in the Uddhav Thackeray government, who had to resign over the suicide of a woman. 

Shinde may also have to accommodate his key ally from Mahad in the Raigad district and chief whip of Shiv Sena’s rebel assembly Bharat Gogawale. 

Apart from this, Sanjay Shirsat of Aurangabad district is also in the race for the post of minister.

According to Party insiders

The Bharatiya Janata Party authority also has to lodge several top chief ministers, and senior MLAs, in the earlier BJP-led government in the state.

According to party members, many such chiefs are outspanning in Delhi to lobby for important portfolios and cabinet berths. 

There is a doubt over whether Devendra will get the Finance portfolios or Home, but Bharatiya Janata Party officers said the superior leader and erstwhile ministers such as Bharatiya Janata Party chief Chandrakant Patil, Sanjay Kute, Ashish Shelar, Praveen Darekar, and Sudhir Mungantiwar will be given main portfolios expected to be charged.

But, looking at uncertainty among his party members, Devendra advised them during the Bharatiya Janata Party administrative members’ conference on Saturday that they should exercise sobriety and even indicated that not all applicants should be included in the cabinet extension.

“The extension of the cabinet will take place two to three days before the monsoon session of the assembly, which may happen in the first week of August,” a senior BJP leader said. 

A former minister from the Shinde camp said that he has not yet heard from the CM about the date of the swearing-in ceremony. 

“We expect everyone to be taken care of as promised. The expansion of the cabinet is being discussed and it will happen at the right time.