Maharashtra cabinet expansion: Over a dozen leaders take oath today; Ex-Cong leader Vikhe Patil among 13 sworn in as minister

Maharashtra cabinet expansion: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis expanded his cabinet on Sunday with as many as 13 leaders taking oath as the ministers today.

Maharashtra cabinet expansion: Among many, former Leader of Opposition of Maharashtra Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, who had quit the Congress recently, also sworn in as state minister. (ANI)

Maharashtra cabinet expansion: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis expanded his cabinet on Sunday with as many as 13 leaders taking oath as the ministers today. Among many, former Leader of Opposition of Maharashtra Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, who had quit the Congress recently, also sworn in as state minister. Besides, Ashish Shelar, the president of Mumbai unit of Bharatiya Janata Party, also took the oath with other leaders today. Former Congress leader Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil; Mumbai BJP chief Ashish Shelar; former cabinet minister Jaydutt Kshirsagar; Vidarbha legislators Dr. Sanjay Kute; Sangli MLA Suresh Dagadu Khade; Dr. Anil Bonde; Dr. Ashok Uike; and Tanaji Sawant took oath as Ministers in the Maharashtra Cabinet at Raj Bhavan in Mumbai. On the other hand, Yogesh Sagar, Dr. Avinash Mahtekar, Sanjay Vishwanath Bhegade, Parinay Fuke, MLA from Bhandara-Gondia; Atul Moreshwar Save, MLA from Aurangabad east took oath as a Minister of State.

Maharashtra cabinet expansion: Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil & Ashish Shelar take oath as ministers, in presence of CM Devendra Fadnavis in Mumbai. pic.twitter.com/5zurqMZOp3

— ANI (@ANI) June 16, 2019

The Cabinet expansion comes a day before the monsoon session of the Maharashtra Legislature, the last before Assembly polls later this year, begins. The leaders were administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor C.V. Rao at a function in Raj Bhavan at 11am today. In the last few days, both Fadnavis and state's Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar had given enough indications about the cabinet expansion. Earlier, on Friday night, Fadnavis had met Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and discussed about the ministers to be inducted in his cabinet. The Republican Party of India (Athawale) on Saturday announced that its leader Avinash Mahatekar will be inducted into the Fadnavis government in Sunday's expansion. Up till now, there were 37 ministers including the Chief Minister, and Fadnavis could accommodate another five. A vacancy was created in 2018 when BJP's Pandurang Fundkar died, the then agriculture minister. (with inputs from agencies)