Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday inducted thirteen new faces in his cabinet; including ten from the Bharatiya Janata Party, two from Shiv Sena and one from the Republican Party of India (RPI). The long pending cabinet expansion comes just three months ahead of the assembly polls.
Political heavyweights– former senior Congress leader Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil and former senior Nationalist Congress Party leader Jaydutt Kshirsagar – who had joined the BJP and Shiv Sena respectively, got cabinet berths. The expansion also gave a leg up to several BJP legislators, rewarded for their performance in the assembly or recent elections or for being party loyalists.
Several new ministers are also seen to be close to Fadnavis.
Six ministers including housing minister Prakash Mehta, tribal development minister Vishnu Sawra, social justice minister Rajkumar Badole, ministers of state Ambarish Atram, Pravin Pote and Dilip Kamble were dropped over performance issues.
Prakash Mehta, Ghatkopar legislator and sole Gujarati face in the cabinet was dropped to preempt attacks by the opposition in the monsoon session beginning on Monday.
Mehta earned negative remarks in the Lokayukta report on the MP Mill compound scam. He allegedly tried to pass on the benefit of additional buildable rights from a slum rehabilitation project to a private builder.
First Published:
Jun 16, 2019 14:20 IST
Source: HindustanTimes