Maharashtra is about to expand its cabinet, and most of the new entrants will be MoS: Devendra Fadnavis

Devendra Fadnavis, the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, announced on Tuesday that the state cabinet would soon be extended. He also mentioned that the majority of the new members will be Ministers of State while speaking with the media at his official residence here. He promised that the expansion would soon be completed. Eknath Shinde, Chief Minister, is one of the 18 cabinet members now serving in the state Council of Ministers. Both the Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction and his ally, the Bharatiya Janata Party, have nine ministers.

 

The Shiv Sena, NCP, and Congress coalition government led by Uddhav Thackeray were overthrown on June 30 due to Shinde's uprising. The current administration thereafter entered office. Only Shinde and Fadnavis took the oath on June 30, but on August 9 the first cabinet expansion occurred. In Maharashtra, the Council of Ministers may consist of up to 43 people. Fadnavis said that the courts will decide when the long-awaited elections for the Mumbai Municipal Corporation would be held. He was reportedly referring to the court petitions regarding the OBC political quota and the BMC elections.

The BJP leader concurred that it was not ideal to keep an important civic organisation like BMC under an administrator's supervision for an extended period of time.

 

 

Image Courtesy: Twitter @Dev_Fadnavis