Maharashtra Cabinet Expansion: Ajit Pawar gets Finance portfolio under new power arrangement

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], July 14 (ANI): In a major Cabinet expansion in the Eknath Shinde-led government soon after the inclusion of nine MLAs of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), new Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has been entrusted with finance and planning ministries.
Additionally, the Shiv Sena, led by Eknath Shinde, has lost three portfolios, including agriculture, relief and rehabilitation.
Meanwhile, the BJP has lost its finance department, which was with Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadvanis.
The NCP has gained control of key portfolios such as finance, planning, cooperation, relief and rehabilitation, agriculture, medical education, sports, food, and civil supplies and women and child welfare. Most of these portfolios were with BJP.
The development comes two weeks after Ajit Pawar and eight NCP MLAs joined the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government.
Chhagan Bhujbal has been allotted the food and civil supplies ministry.
Cabinet Minister Anil Patil gets Relief and Rehabilitation, Disaster Management Department, Aditi Sunil Tatkare has been assigned the Women and Child Development.
While Dhananjay Munde gets Agriculture and Dilip Walse Patil gets Co-operative Department.
Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil gets Revenue, Animal Husbandry.
The cabinet expansion occurred two weeks after intense deliberations between the committee members who were coordinating the allocation of the ministries.
Maharashtra Industries Minister and Shiv Sena leader Uday Samant said “The committee will coordinate among the three parties. There will be 12 leaders from all three parties in this coordination committee. Four leaders from each party have been named for the committee."
He further said that the members from the BJP include, Sudhir Mungantiwar, Ashish Shelar, Prasad Lad and Chandrashekhar Bawankule while from Shiv Sena, Uday Samant, Shambhuraj Desai, Dada Bhuse and Rahul Shewale will be part of the team.
"From NCP, Dhananjay Munde, Dilip Walse Patil, Chhagan Bhujbal and Sunil Tatkare will be there,” he added.
Earlier on July 2, Ajit Pawar split the NCP down the middle as he joined the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance in Maharashtra along with 8 senior MLAs and took oath as the state's deputy chief minister for the fifth time. (ANI)