Monsoon Session of Maharashtra Legislature to begin on August 10; Cabinet expansion likely

Nearly 40 days after the new government came to power in Maharashtra, its first ministerial expansion is expected on Tuesday.

Rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde and BJP's Devendra Fadnavis were sworn in as Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister, respectively, on June 30 by Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, after toppling the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi.

The state government cleared the trust vote on July 4, but the ministry formation was delayed owing to various reasons, such as the Supreme Court hearing, the structure of the new ministry and sharing of portfolios.

The brief Monsoon Session of the Maharashtra Legislature is scheduled from August 10-18.

Read | SC hearing and cabinet expansion unrelated: Shinde govt

While there is no official word, the council of ministers is expected to be expanded in two phases - on Tuesday, around 15 to 18 ministers would be sworn in while the second phase would be undertaken after the Supreme Court decides on the bunch of petitions including on the disqualification proceedings against Shinde and others.

For finalising the names with the BJP high command, Shinde and Fadnavis had visited New Delhi, both individually and together.

On Monday, Fadnavis met Shinde to give final touches to the ministry - and the duo have agreed to keep leaders with clean image and give representation to all sections of the society.

“By Tuesday morning, the names (of ministers) would be finalised,” Shinde told reporters in Nanded.

On Tuesday, the Business Advisory Committee meeting has been scheduled. “I have received a communication on the BAC meeting,” Leader of Opposition Ajit Pawar said.

The swearing-in ceremony is expected at 11 am at the Durbar Hall of the Raj Bhavan.

The ministerial hopefuls from the BJP are Chandrakant Patil, Sudhir Mungantiwar, Pravin Darekar, Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, Ganesh Naik and Ravindra Chavan.

From the Shinde camp, the hopefuls are Dada Bhuse, Gulabrao Patil, Uday Samant, Sandipan Bhumre, Abdul Sattar, Sanjay Shirsat and Shambhuraje Desai.