Mumbai: Nationalist Congress Party leader and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar will hold departments of planning and finance while Anil Deshmukh, who hails from the underdeveloped Vidarbha region, is a home minister. NCP has decided to give Deshmukh the politically sensitive home department in a bid to send a strong signal that the party gives equal weight age for Vidarbha and will make all efforts to expedite development there.
At the same, NCP chief Sharad Pawar has planned a comprehensive plan to consolidate party organisation in Vidarbha and hopes Deshmukh's appointment as a Home Minister will benefit the party politically too.
Pawar had recently said there were no takers in NCP for home department. Deshmukh is his choice although a large section of the party was insisting that Ajit Pawar, Jayant Patil and Dilip Walse-Patil be considered for the post of Home Minister.
Former Deputy Chief Minister Jayant Patil will be the Irrigation Minister, former Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal is a Minister of Food and Civil Supplies, former Speaker Dilip Walse Patil is the Minister of Excise and Skill Development, Hasan Mushrif is Minister of Rural Development, former leader of opposition Dhananjay Munde is a Minister of Social Justice, Balasaheb Patil is a Minister of Co-operation and Marketing, Rajendra Shingane is a Minister of Food and Drugs Administration, Rajesh Tope is a Minister of Health, Jitendra Awhad is a Minister of Housing and party spokesman Nawab Malik is a Minister of Labour and Minorities Affairs.
