Maharashtra Cabinet Expansion Next Week, 8 From Shinde Camp Likely To Become Ministers

Cabinet expansion will take place in the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government next week.

Cabinet expansion will take place in the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government next week. According to ABP News sources, eight leaders of the Shinde camp are likely to become ministers. Last year in August Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde expanded his two-member cabinet with 18 ministers, nine each of BJP and Shiv Sena, taking oath at a ceremony at Raj Bhavan in south Mumbai.

The expansion took place after the new BJP-Shiv Sena government seized power in Maharashtra. Eknath Shinde was sworn in as the CM on June 30, 2022 along with Devendra Fadnavis, who took oath as Deputy CM. The BJP leaders inducted into the cabinet include the party's state chief Chandrakant Patil, Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, Sudhir Mungantiwar, Vijaykumar Gavit, Girish Mahajan, Suresh Khade, Ravindra Chavan, Atul Save, and Mangalprabhat Lodha.

Shiv Sena leaders who were sworn in today are Gulabrao Patil, Dada Bhuse, Sanjay Rathod, Sandipan Bhumre, Uday Samant, Tanaji Sawant, Abdul Sattar, Deepak Kesarkar and Shambhuraj Desai. After the ceremony, CM Shinde said that his government will work full-fledged & take up the responsibility of their respective departments.

The new government was formed after some Shiv Sena MLAs, under the leadership of Shinde, rebelled against the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government. The rebellion caused the MVA government --  which consisted of the Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and Congress -- to fall. 

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)'s Maharashtra unit chief Jayant Patil on Tuesday said that the state government would "definitely" fall if the 16 MLAs of chief minister Eknath Shinde's Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena (BSS) are disqualified. "I feel if the 16 MLAs are disqualified, then the Shinde government will definitely fall. There is also a possibility that since BJP is the largest party in numbers the Governor may approach them and if they have numbers then they could form the government," Patil said while addressing a press conference on Tuesday, as quoted by the news agency ANI.

He further said that there is a possibility that the remaining MLAs with the Shinde group might join Uddhav Thackeray. This came after NCP leader Ajit Pawar claimed "no threat" to the Shinde government even if 16 MLAs are disqualified. "Even if 16 MLAs are disqualified, the government of Shinde and Fadnavis will not fall. There is no threat to the government," he said on Monday while addressing a press conference in Mumbai, as quoted by ANI.

Attaching an argument to his opinion, he said that in a 288-member assembly, the government will not lose its majority mark, even if 16 MLAs are disqualified. Notably, a delegation of the Shiv Sena (UBT) handed over a letter seeking expedited action in the disqualification of 16 Shinde camp MLAs following the Supreme Court's recent verdict during their meeting with Maharashtra's deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal and Assembly secretary Jitendra Bhole.

The Whip of Shiv Sena (UBT), Sunil Prabhu, said that the UBT Sena's delegation submitted a letter to the Speaker following the apex court's order that ruled that the Speaker can adjudicate the disqualification of the 16 Shinde camp MLAs. The ruling coalition of Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) currently has 145 MLAs while the overall coalition has162 MLAs, 17 more than the required number to form government in Maharashtra.