Maharashtra cabinet expansion on December 14, says deputy CM Ajit Pawar

NEW DELHI: Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar on Thursday announced that the cabinet expansion of Maharashtra government will take place on Saturday.

"Cabinet expansion in Maharashtra will take place on December 14," said Pawar while talking to reporters after meeting union home Minister Amit Shah.

Regarding the allocation of ministerial positions to the BJP, CM Devendra Fadnavis told reports, "In our party, decisions are taken by the parliamentary board and our senior leadership. As far as making ministers from the BJP quota is concerned, we will decide on it. Similarly, the NCP and Shiv Sena will decide the names of their ministers at their level. The formula for cabinet expansion is already decided. You will get to know about it soon."

Meanwhile, an NCP functionary had previously indicated that BJP is expected to receive 20 positions, whilst Shiv Sena and NCP are anticipated to receive 10 positions each.

The NCP leader further explained that considering the substantial number of Mahayuti legislators, ministerial tenures might be limited to two and a half years, based on their performance evaluations.

The Sena is expected to make changes to their previous ministerial lineup and reportedly planning to bring in new representatives to fill these positions.

The cabinet expansion comes as Devendra Fadnavis was sworn in as Maharashtra's chief minister for the third time on December 5, with Ajit Pawar and Eknath Shinde assuming roles as deputy chief ministers. The oath ceremony, held at Mumbai's Azad Maidan and administered by Governor C P Radhakrishnan, was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

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