Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde is likely to expand his cabinet this week by inducting at least 15 ministers.
Amid growing criticism from opposition parties over delays, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who was in Delhi to attend an OBC conference, disclosed for the first time that the cabinet may be expanded ahead of August 15.
Fadnavis, however, refused to divulge details. He is expected to get the crucial portfolios of home and finance.
Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who attended the NITI Aayog meeting today, said there were no differences between the BJP and his faction of the Shiv Sena over the cabinet expansion and the exercise would be carried out soon.
Both Shinde and Fadnavis clarified that the hearing on a bunch of petitions filed in the Supreme Court by the Uddhav Thackeray faction has nothing to do with the cabinet expansion.
It is likely that seven ministers each from the BJP and the Shinde camp will be sworn in.
Shinde and Fadnavis were sworn in on June 30 after Thackeray resigned as chief minister following a rebellion in the ranks of the Sena legislature party. Since then they have been functioning as a two-member cabinet, becoming the target of criticism from opposition leaders and barbs and memes from social media users.
Commenting on former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar’s criticism that Shinde cannot expand the cabinet without Delhi’s nod, Fadnavis said , “The chief minister belongs to the people and I am in his cabinet. We are always available for the people of this state.”
He noted that the delay in cabinet expansion had not hampered the government’s functioning or the decision-making process.
“Ajit Pawar is leader of the opposition [in the state assembly]. He will have to say such things. Ajit-dada conveniently forgets that when he was in the government, there were just five ministers for the first 32 days,” Fadnavis said.
