Shinde-Fadnavis govt’s ‘men only’ cabinet represents all major Maharashtra regions

The 40-day-old Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government undertook the task of announcing the much-delayed Maharashtra cabinet formation by inducting 18 ministers on Tuesday. The Shinde-Fadnavis duo tried to accommodate leaders from all regions and prioritised seniority while assigning the various departments.

However, there was no woman minister in the new cabinet—a move that led to Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi heavily criticising the state government.

Nine ministers were from the Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena, while the other nine were from the Bharatiya Janata Party—and all were members of the legislative assembly (MLAs); there were no members of the state legislative council in the ministry.

Read | Women to be inducted in Maharashtra Cabinet in next expansion: Fadnavis

Also, neither independent MLAs nor leaders from the smaller parties that support the new Shiv Sena-BJP government, found space in the new cabinet.

According to sources close to the government, some members of both, the BJP and the Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction, resented that several senior leaders were ignored in the first expansion.

Chief Minister Shinde, however, asserted that there will be a cabinet expansion in the coming days.

“Ours is an all-inclusive government and everyone would be given representation,” Shinde said, indicating that the exercise would be taken up once the Supreme Court decides on the petitions against him, including the disqualification proceedings.

In the first expansion, leaders from all regions - Mumbai-Konkan, Western Maharashtra, North Maharashtra, Marathwada and Vidarbha, have been inducted.

Though the state cabinet was divided equally between the Shinde camp and the BJP, allocation of key portfolios—which was yet to be announced—would be the more significant development.

The ministers from the BJP were—Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil (from Shirdi), Sudhir Mungantiwar (from Chandrapur), Chandrakant Patil (from Kothrud), Dr Vijaykumar Gavit (from Nandurbar), Girish Mahajan (from Jamner), Suresh Khade (from Miraj), Ravindra Chavan (from Dombivli), Atul Save (from Aurangabad East) and Mangalprabhat Lodha (from Malabar Hill).

The ministers from the Shinde camp were Gulabrao Patil (from Jalgaon Rural), Dada Bhuse (from Malegaon Outer), Sanjay Rathod (from Digras), Sandipan Bhumre (from Paithan), Uday Samant (from Ratnagiri), Tanaji Sawant (from Paranda), Abdul Sattar (from Sillod), Deepak Kesarkar (from Sawantwadi) and Shamburaj Desai (from Patan).

Of the nine Shinde camp ministers, six were part of the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government.

The announcement also drew flak for the inclusion of Rathod and Sattar—both embroiled in separate controversies.

Rathod resigned from the erstwhile Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government after