Maharashtra Cabinet Expansion: After a long wait in Maharashtra, the cabinet of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has been expanded. The cabinet expansion has taken place 21 days after the results of the assembly elections in Maharashtra. The new ministers were sworn in today in Nagpur. After 33 years, the cabinet expansion and swearing-in ceremony was held in Nagpur. In the first expansion of Fadnavis cabinet, 39 MLAs have taken oath as ministers. 19 MLAs from BJP quota, 11 from Shiv Sena Shinde’s Shiv Sena quota and 9 from Ajit Pawar’s NCP quota took oath as ministers.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has succeeded in balancing regional and caste equations in his cabinet expansion. It is clear from the list of leaders who took oath as ministers that leaders from different parts of the state have got a chance in it. Along with this, a lot of effort has also been put into solving the complicated caste equation of the state.
OBC and SC equation solved
OBC, Maratha, SC and tribal equations have been fully taken into account among the ministers taking oath from BJP quota. BJP MLC Pankaja Munde, who hails from Marathwada, comes from the OBC category. By making him a minister, an effort has been made to address the OBC category as well as the women equation. Girish Mahajan, who hails from North Maharashtra, also belongs to the OBC category.
Pankaj Bhoyar and Akash Phundkar of Vidarbha come from Kunbi Maratha community and an attempt has been made to correct the OBC equation by making them ministers. Efforts have also been made to satisfy the OBC category through Ganesh Naik of Thane, Madhuri Pisal of Pune and Chandrashekhar Bawankule of Vidarbha. An attempt has been made to woo the Mali community by making Jai Kumar Gore of Satara and Atul Save of Aurangabad as ministers.
Maratha equation also given full attention
Chhatrapati Shivaji’s descendant Shivaji Rao Bhosale has also been made a minister. Shivendra, who joined BJP before the 2019 elections, has won from Satara seat. An attempt has been made to satisfy the Maratha fraternity by making Chandrakant Patil of Western Maharashtra, Radha Krishna Vikhe Patil who won from Shirdi seat, Ashish Shelar of Mumbai, Meghna Bordikar (Marathwada) and Nitesh Rane of Konkan as ministers.
Sanjay Savkare of Bhusaval is associated with the SC fraternity. Ashok Bhuike of Vidarbha has succeeded in becoming a minister from tribal quota.
Opportunity for MLAs of different sections from Shinde faction
Apart from giving opportunity to many new faces, the Shinde faction of Shiv Sena has also taken full care of different sections of the society. Shinde’s close aide Sanjay Shirsat, who hails from Marathwada, belongs to the SC category. An attempt has been made to corner the Maratha community by giving opportunity to Prakash Abitkar of Kolhapur, Yogesh Kadam of Konkan and Pratap Sarnaik of Thane.
Many faces belonging to OBC category have also succeeded in becoming ministers. These include the names of Vidarbha’s Sanjay Rathod, Bharat Gogavale, Gulabrao Patil (Gurjar OBC). An attempt has been made to woo the tradesman class by making Ramtek’s Ashish Jaiswal a minister. An attempt has been made to woo the Brahmin class through Uday Samant of Ratnagiri.
Every section is represented in NCP quota also.
If we talk about the MLAs who became ministers from the quota of Ajit Pawar’s NCP, then caste and regional equations have been taken full care of through these faces also. Chhagan Bhujbal, who comes from North Maharashtra, is considered a big face of the OBC class. An attempt has been made to smooth the OBC equation by making Dhananjay Munde of Marathwada and Aditi Tatkare of Konkan as ministers.
Ajit Pawar quota ministers include many faces belonging to the Maratha community. These include the names of Baba Saheb Patil, Anil Patil, Makrand Patil and Manik Rao Kotate of Nashik.
The noteworthy thing is that a Muslim face is also included among those who became ministers from Ajit Pawar’s quota. Hasan Mushrif, who hails from Kolhapur, has also taken oath as minister. The tribal equation has been taken care of by making Narhari Jhirwal of North Maharashtra the minister. Dhangar community has been given representation through Datta Bharna of Western Maharashtra.
