)
Two days after taking over as the first Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief minister in Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday made the allocation of portfolios to his council of ministers. Fadnavis has kept the home, urban development and 12 other portfolios including housing, general administration, energy, environment, irrigation, etc.
These portfolios are likely to be allocated to BJP members during the expansion of the Cabinet or to Shiv Sena if it decides to join the government. The allocation was delayed owing to the difference of opinion among some BJP leaders about the key portfolios.
BJP leader Eknath Khadse, who had staked claim for the chief minister’s post, will be No 2 in the Fadnavis-led Cabinet and has been allocated the ministries of revenue, excise, agriculture, animal husbandry, dairy development and fisheries, and minorities development and Wakf.
Another contender for the CM post, Vinod Tawde, who comes from the powerful Maratha community, has been given the portfolios of school education and sports, higher and technical education, medical education, Marathi language, and cultural affairs.
Tawde failed to get home ministry. Notably, during poll campaign, he had repeatedly said he would become the home minister and put former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) behind the bars for his alleged involvement in the multi-crore irrigation scam.
Further, Sudhir Mungantiwar, who is elected from the Naxal-dominated Chandrapur district, will look after finance, planning and forests. Mungantiwar faces the tough task of restoring state finances and make the revenue-deficit Budget a revenue-surplus one.
Prakash Mehta, who was elected for the six time from the Ghatkopar East constituency, has been allocated the portfolios of industries and mining. Mehta, who had worked as the minister of excise during the BJP-Sena rule between 1995 and 1999, enjoys good rapport with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel. Mehta will have to fulfil the BJP’s poll promise to regain Maharashtra’s past glory and maintain the state’s pre-eminence in attracting investments.
BJP leader late Gopinath Munde's daughter Pankaja Munde-Palwe has got rural development, water conservation, women and child development. Her father, who died in a car accident in Delhi in June this year, was Union minister for rural development in the Modi-led Cabinet. Pankaja’s challenges include making Maharashtra a child-labour free state.
BJP leader Chandrakant Patil, who has spent two-and-a-half decades working for the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, has been given the key portfolios of cooperation and marketing. Patil, who hails from the sugarcane rich Kolhapur in western Maharashtra, was responsible for consolidating the BJP’s position there. Patil has been chosen to bring in transparency and professionalism in the cooperative sector, which is dominated by NCP and the Congress. Patil has also been allocated textiles and public works including state undertaking Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation. He will have to revive a lot of projects that are stuck due to the differences between Congress and NCP.
Tribal leader Vishnu Sawra, who was elected from Vikramgad in Thane district, will look after tribal development, social justice and social assistance. BJP leader Dilip Kamble, who was elected from the Pune Cantonment seat reserved for the scheduled castes, will be Sawra’s minister of state of tribal development, social justice and special assistance.
Furthermore, Vidya Thakur, who defeated Shiv Sena leader Subhash Desai from Goregaon in north Mumbai, has got rural development, water conservation, women and child development. Thakur will be Pankaja’s minister of state.
