Fadnavis keeps plum portfolios

Expansion of ministry to take place after trust vote in Legislative Assembly

In accordance with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s mantra of “minimum government, maximum governance”, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has come out with a ministry where key people handle subjects which are interrelated.

Two days after he was sworn in as the chief minister along with seven Cabinet-rank ministers and two Ministers of State, the 44-year-old Fadnavis allocated portfolios on Sunday.

An expansion of the ministry will take place in the second fortnight of November, after the government passes the trust vote in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is pursuing its old ally, the Shiv Sena, to join the government. It has already been assured of an “outside unconditional support” by the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party.

Fadnavis has kept Home, Urban Development and Housing ministries and all other ministries that had not been allotted pending talks with Shiv Sena.

The senior-most member in the Cabinet, Eknath Khadse, from North Maharashtra, has been given Revenue, Minority Development and Wakf, Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Dairy Development, Fisheries and State Excise.

Fadnavis’ party colleague from Vidarbha, Sudhir Mungantiwar, will be in charge of Finance, Planning and Forests.

To make the team more responsible, the separate ministries  for School and Higher Education, Medical Education and Sports and Youth Welfare have been given to Vinod Tawde, from Mumbai. Another senior leader from Mumbai, Prakash Mehta, will be in charge of Industries and Mines and will also handle Parliamentary Affairs.

Senior BJP leader Chandrakant Patil, from Kolhapur in Western Maharashtra, has been given Cooperation and Marketing. Besides this, he will also handle the two ministers of Public Works and Public Works (Undertakings).

Gopinath Munde’s daughter Pankaja Munde, who is from Marathwada, has been given Rural Development and Water Conservation as well as Women and Child Development. Veteran tribal leader from Thane district, Vishnu Savara will handle Tribal Development, Social Justice and Special Assistance.

As far as junior ministers are concerned, Minister of State Dilip Kamble will handle Tribal Development, Social Justice and Special Assistance. Vidya Thakur has got the ministries of Rural Development and Water Conservation, Women and Child Development.

Fadnavis is following Modi’s vision and his model of the Prime Minister’s Office, which would be replicated in the chief minister’s officer (CMO).

 “I am in the process of developing the (CMO) on the lines of the PMO where a set of select bureaucrats assist the ministers in case they are not able to carry out certain tasks,” Fadnavis told reporters on Saturday.