Maharashtra Cabinet expansion: If reports are to be believed Maharashtra government's Cabinet expansion may happen on August 5. A total of 15 ministers can take oath including 8 BJP MLAs and 7 Eknath Shinde group legislators. The Cabinet expansion may take place in 2 or 3 rounds. The expansion of ministers can be done 2 or 3 rounds.
The rebellion by Shinde and 40 MLAs of Shiv Sena led to the collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in June. But, even after 35 days, the state government is functioning without a Cabinet.
Sources said, the complete list of ministers has been approved from Delhi. Speculations are ripe that new faces from BJP will get a chance.
Here is the list of probables who can get a minister's berth in Cabinet expansion
From BJP
- Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil
- Sudhir Mungantiwar
- Girish Mahajan
- Amrish Patel (MLC)
- Ravindra Chavhan
- Ashok Uike
- Chandrashekhar Bawankule (can get cabinet berth in second phase of expansion)
- Ashish Shellar
- Pravin Darekar
- Ganesh Naik
- Sambhaji Nilangekar
- Prashant Thakur
- Chandrakant Patil
- Sanjay Kute
- Subhash Deshmukh
- Shivendra Raje Bhonsle
- Kishore Jorgewar
From Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena
- Gulabrao Patil
- Uday Samant
- Dada Bhuse
- Sandipan Bhumre
- Deepak Kesarkar
- Sanjay Rathod
- Tanaji Sawant
- Sambhuraje Desai
- Abdul Sattar
- Ashish Jaiswal
At present, Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, both of whom took oath on June 30, are the only members of the cabinet.
The state legislature's monsoon session was scheduled to start on July 18, but it was put off after Shinde brought down the Uddhav Thackeray-led government and became CM with the BJP's support.
"We will soon expand our cabinet. Even as the cabinet expansion has not taken place, the government is working efficiently. We have taken multiple decisions that are people-oriented," Shinde had told reporters in Pune earlier this week.
The Thackeray-led Sena and Congress and Nationalist Congress Party have been questioning the delay in the cabinet expansion.
