Mumbai: Ten ministers of state in the council of ministers headed by CM Uddhav Thackeray have hit the jackpot as they have been allotted a record 5 to 8 departments. In the 42-member cabinet, there are 32 cabinet ministers and only 10 ministers who have been delegated powers to take policy decisions.
The 10 ministers of state are Abdul Sattar, Satej Patil, Shambhuraj Desai, Bachchu Kadu, Dattatray Bharane, Vishwajeet Kadam, Rajendra Yedravkar, Sanjay Bansode, Prajakt Tanpure and Aditi Tatkare.
Of them, Bansode, Tanpure, Yedravkar, and Tatkare were elected for the first time while Satej Patil was minister of state in the Congress-NCP government. Sattar, who was the cabinet minister in the Congress-NCP government, had joined Shiv Sena ahead of the assembly election and was now minister of state.
Kadu has elected to the assembly for the fourth successive time as an independent and Kadam was elected for the second time.
Minister of state Prajakt Tanpure, who is related to a senior minister and state NCP president Jayant Patil, has got key urban development, energy, tribal development, higher and technical education and relief and rehabilitation depts while Sena minister Abdul Sattar, who hogged the headlines over his resignation following his demotion, will handle revenue, rural development, portland development, and special assistance.
Aditi Tatkare, who was the Raigad Zilla Parishad President till recently, will hold industries, mining, tourism, hortifultrure, sports, protocol and information and publicity.
Incidentally, CM Uddhav Thackereay is holding information and publicity while his son Aaditya Thackeray is cabinet minister for protocol. Allocation of industries department is important as the Maha Vikas Aghadi government may give its nod for the development of Rs3 lakh crore refinery project which the previous government denotified its site in Nanar in Ratnagiri district following opposition from Shiv Sena.
Congress leader Satej Patil had handled the Home department as the minister of state in the past. He has been given the same department along with housing, transport, information technology, legislative affairs and ex-servicemen welfare. Patil is the lone legislator who comes from the Maharashtra Legislative Council.
Desai, who was elected for the fourth time to the assembly as Shiv Sena nominee from Patan seat, is the minister of state for Home (rural) in addition to planning and finance, state excise, skill development and marketing. Desai’s mandate is to use police and intelligence inputs for the party's growth in rural areas to checkmate BJP.
Kadam, the son of ex-Congress minister and Bharati Vidyapeeth promoter late Patangrao Kadam, has got cooperation, agriculture, social justice, food and civil supplies, Marathi language and minorities development.
Bharane, who defeated the former minister and BJP nominee Harshvardhan Patil from Indapur seat, holds public works, soil and water conservation, forest, animal husbandry, dairy development, fisheries and general administration. Thackeray is in charge of general administration.
Rajendra Yedravkar, who was elected as an independent from Kolhapur district, is the minister of state from the Shiv Sena quota. He holds public health and family welfare, medical education, food and drug administration, cultural affairs and textile.
Bansode, who had supported Ajit Pawar in his coup and later came back to the NCP fold, holds public works (MSRDC), environment, water supply and sanitation, employment guarantee, earthquake rehabilitation and legislative affairs.
