Maharashtra Cabinet Portfolios Announced: CM Fadnavis Retains Home, Shinde Gets Urban Development—Find Out Who Got What

Nearly two weeks after the Maharashtra oath-taking ceremony, cabinet portfolios were announced on Saturday (21 December).

Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, the former Chief Minister, was assigned three key ministries: Urban Development, Housing, and Public Works.

However, he did not secure the Home portfolio, which he was reportedly seeking.

Ajit Pawar, the second Deputy Chief Minister, was given charge of the key Finance Ministry and the State Excise portfolio.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will retain major portfolios, including Home, Energy (excluding renewable energy), Law and Judiciary, General Administration, Information and Publicity, and other departments not allocated to any minister.

The portfolio allocation took place after the weeklong winter session of the state legislature concluded earlier in the day.

The Devendra Fadnavis-led cabinet now has 42 members, one short of the maximum permissible strength of 43 under legislative rules.

The Mahayuti alliance, comprising the BJP, Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena, and Ajit Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), secured over 230 of the 288 assembly seats in Maharashtra.

Meanwhile, the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance, which includes Congress, Uddhav Thackeray's Sena faction, and Sharad Pawar's NCP faction, managed to win only 46 seats.

Chief Minister Fadnavis and his deputies, Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar, were sworn in on 5 December. Later, 39 ministers were inducted into the cabinet on 14 December, a day ahead of the beginning of the Winter Session.

The portfolios for BJP ministers include Revenue for Chandrashekhar Bawankule, Water Resources (Krishna and Godavari Valley Development corporations) for Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, Higher and Technical Education and Parliamentary Affairs for Chandrakant Patil, and Water Resources (Vidarbha, Tapi, Konkan Development Corporation) and Disaster Management for Girish Mahajan.

Ganesh Naik has been assigned Forests, Mangal Prabhat Lodha got Skill Development, Employment, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation, Jaykumar Raval was allotted Marketing and Protocol, while Pankaja Munde was allocated Environment and Climate Change as well as Animal Husbandry. Atul Save was entrusted with OBC Welfare, Dairy Development, and Renewable Energy.

Ashok Uike will oversee Tribal Development, Ashish Shelar will handle Cultural Affairs and Information Technology, and Shivendrasinh Bhosale will manage Public Works.

Jaykumar Gore has been given Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Sanjay Savkare Textiles, Nitesh Rane Fisheries and Ports, Akash Fundkar Labour.

Shiv Sena ministers' portfolios: Gulabrao Patil will handle Water Supply and Sanitation, Dadaji Bhuse will oversee School Education, Sanjay Rathod will manage Soil and Water Conservation, and Uday Samant will take charge of Industries and Marathi Language.

Shambhuraj Desai was assigned Tourism, Mining, and Ex-servicemen Welfare, Sanjay Shirsat received Social Justice, and Pratap Sarnaik was given Transport.

Bharat Gogawale was entrusted with Employment Guarantee, Horticulture, and Salt Pan Lands Development, while Prakash Abitkar was allocated Public Health and Family Welfare.

NCP ministers' portfolios: Hasan Mushrif will oversee Medical Education, Dhananjay Munde will handle Food and Civil Supplies as well as Consumer Protection, and Dattatrey Bharne will oversee Sports, Youth Welfare, Minority Development, and Aukaf.

Aditi Tatkare was allocated Women and Child Development, while Manikrao Kokate was given charge of Agriculture.

Narhari Zirwal has been given Food and Drug Administration, Special assistance. Makrand Patil was assigned Relief and Rehabilitation, while Babasaheb Patil received the Cooperation portfolio.

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