Fadnavis expands cabinet, 10 from Sena among 20 new ministers

Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray along with his family members attended the function where all the Sena ministers evoked the name of  Bal Thackeray while taking the oath.

From Shiv Sena, Diwakar Raote, Eknath Shinde, Subash Desai, Deepak Sawant and Ramdas Kadam took oath as cabinet members, while Girish Bapat, Girish Mahajan, Chandrashekhar Bawankule, Rajkumar Badole and Babanrao Lonikar  were BJP’s fresh inclusion in the cabinet.

Meanwhile, with Shiv Sena joining the government, Congress has now staked its claim over the Leader of Opposition post in the assembly for its legislature party leader Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil.

BJP sources said that apart from ensuring a regional balance, the party has also tried to accommodate candidates belonging to Maratha, OBC, Tribal, Scheduled Caste and Brahmin communities to convey a message that the party was committed to inclusive politics.  They said given the fact that BJP managed to win 43 of the 62 seats it contested in Vidarbha, those who won from that belt had to be given a preference. The CM himself is from Nagpur.

The other five ministers were from western Maharashtra (two), north Maharashtra (two) and Marathawada (one). BJP’s Vidarbha representation was in form of Chandrashekhar Bawankule (OBC), Rajkumar Badole (SC) and Amrish Atram Raje, a tribal from Gadchiroli.

In a marked departure from the past, BJP has inducted two members of Legislative Council —  Praveen Pote and Ranjit Patil  — in the government.

Similarly, Shiv Sena, whose strength is primarily in Mumbai, Thane and Konkan, appeared to have decided on its selection of ministers keeping in mind the party’s vote base. Five ministers from the party were from Mumbai and Thane.

Sena too appears to have leaned in favour of  members from Legislative Council by going for Diwakar Raote, Deepak Sawant, Subash Desai  and Ramdas Kadam.

Total ministers who took the oath: 20

Cabinet rank ministers: 10

Girish Bapat (BJP); Girish Mahajan (BJP), Chandrashekhar Bawankule (BJP); Babanrao Lonikar (BJP); Rajkumar Sudam Badole (BJP); Diwakar Raote (Shiv Sena); Subash Desai (Shiv Sena); Ramdas Kadam (Shiv Sena); Eknath Shinde (Shiv Sena); Deepak Sawant (Shiv Sena)

Ministers of State: 10

Ram Shinde (BJP); Vijay Deshmukh (BJP); Amrish Atram Raje (BJP); Ranjit Patil (BJP), Praveen Pote (BJP); Sanjay Rathod (Shiv Sena); Dadaji Dagdu Bhuse (Shiv Sena); Vijay Shivtare (Shiv Sena); Deepak Kesarkar (Shiv Sena); Ravindra Waikar (Shiv Sena)