Maharashtra Cabinet expansion: 18 MLAs take oath as ministers

In a magnificent ceremony held in Mumbai’s Raj Bhavan on Tuesday, 18 MLAs—nine from the BJP and nine from the Shiv Sena group led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde—were sworn in as ministers, completing the much-anticipated enlargement of the Maharashtra Cabinet.

In a magnificent ceremony held in Mumbai’s Raj Bhavan on Tuesday, 18 MLAs—nine from the BJP and nine from the Shiv Sena group led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde—were sworn in as ministers, completing the much-anticipated enlargement of the Maharashtra Cabinet.

Eighteen MLAs were sworn in as ministers by Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari. The enlargement of the Cabinet comes more over 40 days after Chief Minister Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis took office following the overthrow of the Maha Vikas Aghadi-led administration in state by a revolt headed by the former.

Chandrakant Patil, Sudhir Mungantiwar, Girish Mahajan, Suresh Khade, Radha Krishna Vikhe Patil, Ravindra Chavhan, Mangal Prabhat Lodha, Vijaykumar Gavit, and Atul Save are among the BJP MLAs who are expected to be appointed to the government.

To attend a meeting, MLAs from the Eknath Shinde camp came to Sahyadri Guest House in Mumbai this morning.

Shinde and Devendra Fadnavis took their oaths as chief minister and deputy of Maharashtra on June 30. Later, Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari met with Devendra Fadnavis and Eknath Shinde to establish their claims to authority.

Devendra Fadnavis met Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on June 28 and requested a floor test from him. Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Uddhav Thackeray, submitted his letter of resignation to the Governor the next day. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had stated on August 6 that secretaries had not been given ministerial-level authority outside of quasi-judicial affairs. Chief Minister was accused by the state’s opposition of running a two-member government and giving the bureaucrats the authority to make decisions. These seats, according to him, included several that were held by Team Shinde-affiliated Shiv Sena officials