Uddhav Thackeray skips ceremony
AMN
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today inducted 10 new faces in his cabinet and elevated one existing minister elevated to cabinet rank.
Maharashtra Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao administered oath to the legislators at Vidhan Bhavan to 6 Cabinet Ministers and 5 Ministers of State in the presence of Chief Minister and other ministers.
The six cabinet ministers include five BJP legislators and one from ally Rashtriya Samaj Paksha while the five Ministers of State include two of BJP, two of Shiv Sena and one of Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatna.
With this the total ministers in state cabinet is 39 now.
MLC Vinayak Mete of Shiv Sangram Party, who was expecting to be inducted in the cabinet skipped the swearing-in ceremony as also Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray.
The Shiv Sena had earlier announced it will not be a part of the expansion as their demand for one cabinet and two MoS was not met. However, after several rounds of discussions they settled for two MoSs and yesterday announced its participation in the cabinet expansion.
The BJP legislators sworn-in as Cabinet ministers include former state party president Pandurang Fundkar, Dondaicha (Dhule) MLA Jaykumar Rawal, Sambhaji Patil Nilangekar from Nilanga and Solapur MLA Subhash Deshmukh.
BJP legislators Ravindra Chavan and Madan Yerawar were sworn in as Ministers of State. The other five, including two of Shiv Sena, two of BJP and one of another alliance partner, were sworn-in as MoS.