CM Shinde Expands Cabinet, Includes Nine MLAs Each From BJP And Shiv Sena

Ending speculation, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde expanded his cabinet to include 18 MLAs. The oath-taking ceremony took place at Raj Bhavan. Governor B S Koshyari administered the oath of office to the ministers.

Since the last 41 days, CM Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadvanis were the only one in the Cabinet. They faced criticism from the opposition as well as within their own parties for delaying cabinet expansion. After a series of talks, names of 18 legislators were selected to be included in the cabinet.

The list includes state BJP president Chandrakant Patil. The strength of Maharashtra ministry has now gone up to 20, less than half the maximum allowed strength of 43.

Those who took oath as ministers on Tuesday include nine each from the Shinde group and the BJP.

The new BJP ministers are Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, Sudhir Mungantiwar, Chandrakant Patil, Vijaykumar Gavit, Girish Mahajan, Suresh Khade, Ravindra Chavan, Atul Save and Mangalprabhat Lodha.

From the Shinde group, Gulabrao Patil, Dada Bhuse, Sanjay Rathod, Sandipan Bhumre, Uday Samant, Tanaji Sawant, Abdul Sattar, Deepak Kesarkar and Shambhuraj Desai were sworn in as ministers.

No minister of state was sworn in today. There will be another ministry expansion later, an aide of Shinde said.

While BJP has inducted Lodha, who hails from Mumbai, the Shinde group hasn't included any legislator from the financial capital, where municipal corporation elections are slated later this year.

(with inputs from PTI)