National Communist Party's Chhagan Bhujbal has reportedly left for Nashik in the middle of the Winter Session of the Maharashtra Assembly. According to reports, the NCP veteran leader is upset after he was left out of Mahastratra Cabinet. A total of 39 legislators from Mahayuti allies were sworn in on Sunday in the first cabinet expansion of the 10-day-old Devendra Fadnavis-led ministry including 16 new faces, while 10 former ministers were excluded.
The new council of ministers reflects Fadnavis' efforts in balancing caste equations including sections of Marathas, OBCs, SCs, and STs and striking a regional balance. With the new inductees, the strength of the Fadnavis-led ministry has gone up to 42, including the CM and his deputies Eknath Shinde (Shiv Sena) and Ajit Pawar (NCP). One berth was kept vacant. While the BJP secured 19 ministerial berths by virtue of being the largest among allies, Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party were allotted 11 and 9 berths, respectively. Among the new inductees, four are women, including Pankaja Munde, Madhuri Misal, and Meghna Bordikar of BJP and Aditi Tatkare of NCP. Munde and Tatkare took oath as Cabinet ministers, and Bordikar and Misal as MoS.
Who were not inducted?
Prominent leaders excluded in the new Cabinet are Chhagan Bhujbal and Dilip Walse Patil of NCP, and Sudhir Mungantiwar and Vijaykumar Gavit of BJP. From Shiv Sena, former ministers Tanaji Sawant, Deepak Kesarkar, and Abdul Sattar were not re-inducted. Anil Patil, Sanjay Bandsode, and Dharmarao Baba Atram of NCP also missed out on the second chance.
