The Winter Session of the Maharashtra legislature is scheduled to start in Nagpur next week -- but the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis is yet to take a call on the expansion of the council of ministers.
At present, the strength of the ministry is 20 ministers of Cabinet rank including Shinde and Fadnavis, the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister respectively. Because of the delay, there is tremendous resentment among the legislators of both the BJP and the Shinde-led Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena (BSS), the rebel faction of the Shiv Sena.
“It was expected that there would be an expansion of the council of ministers before the Winter Session but so far there is no indication to this effect. It has been a long wait,” sources in the BJP-BSS said.
The bunch of petitions filed by Shinde and Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena is pending before the Supreme Court -- and it is now scheduled to be heard on January 13 next year. “Under such circumstances, Shinde and Fadnavis do not seem to take chances even though the workload is increasing,” the sources said.
Since the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly comprises 288 members, the maximum number of ministers that the government can have is 43.
As of now, the 20 ministers are in a 50:50 ratio between the Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction and the BJP.
The smaller parties and independent members have not yet been accommodated.
However, after a delay, 18 new Cabinet ministers were sworn in on August 9.
“It was expected that by November, the expansion of the council of ministers would take place, however, it did not happen,” the sources said.
MVA leaders said that the Shinde-Fadnavis government would not be able to face the test in the Supreme Court and was bound to collapse.
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