Former Congressman and Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil joined the cabinet of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday.
Vikhe Patil was sworn in as a minister by Governor C.V. Rao at a function in Raj Bhavan. The BJP’s Mumbai chief Ashish Shelar also took oath as a minister.
Ahead of the expansion, the Fadnavis cabinet had 38 ministers – out of which 22 were cabinet ministers and 16 were junior ministers.
A few others from various parties of the ruling alliance including BJP, Shiv Sena, Republican Party of India (A) are also expected to take oath as ministers.
Also read: To accommodate senior leaders, Fadnavis to expand Cabinet on Sunday
Assembly election in Maharashtra are due later this year.
Patil who submitted his resignation as a member of the Assembly on June 4, was widely tipped to join the Fadnavis cabinet.
Patil’s son Sujay Vikhe Patil had switched to BJP from Congress before the recent Lok Sabha elections. He won the Ahmednagar seat with a margin of 2.81 lakh votes. Vikhe Patil had quit as Leader of Opposition in March, days after his son joined the BJP.
First Published:
Jun 16, 2019 11:48 IST
Source: HindustanTimes