Maharashtra Cabinet ministers allotted portfolios

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ensured that the majority of important portfolios were allocated to it with deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis managing to keep both Home and Finance departments. CM Shinde kept the Urban Development Department (UDD), which he handled in the previous MVA government. He will handle Information and Technology, Public Works (Public undertakings), Transport, Marketing, Social Justice, Relief and Rehabilitation, Disaster management, Soil and water conservation, Environment and Minority Affairs.

Apart from Home, and Finance, Fadnavis has Law and Judiciary, Irrigation, Housing, Power and Protocol.

The portfolio distribution shows that despite nine ministers each from both sides, the BJP has managed to hold on to the majority of important departments.

Newsletter | Click to get the day’s best explainers in your inbox

Shinde has restarted the tradition of CM holding the UDD portfolio, which was stopped by then CM Uddhav Thackeray. Thackeray had appointed Shinde as the UDD minister, unlike his predecessors. He has also kept Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), which is involved in some of the biggest projects in the state, including the  multi-thousand crore Nagpur-Mumbai super communication highway.

Among the 18 Cabinet ministers, Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil will handle Revenue, Animal Husbandry and Dairy development. Maharashtra BJP’s former president Chandrakant Patil will be Higher and Technical Education, Textile and Parliamentary Affairs minister while former finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar will be Forest, Cultural Affairs and Fisheries minister.

Dr Vijaykumar Gavit will be Tribal Development minister while Girish Mahajan will handle Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Medical Education and Sports & youth welfare portfolios. Suresh Khade will be the new Labour minister and Ravindra Chavan will handle Public Works department (PWD); Food, civil supplies and consumer protection. New entrant Atul Save will handle Cooperation and OBC department portfolios and former BJP Mumbai chief Mangal Prabhat Lodha will be the new Tourism, Skill Development and Woman and child welfare minister of Maharashtra.

Meanwhile Fadnavis, who was seen as on the backfoot after the party asked him to accept the Deputy CM’s post, has managed to emerge stronger. Not only did he secure important departments, he also successfully upstaged senior BJP leaders such as Patil and Mungantiwar who were given comparatively less important departments. On the other hand, Revenue portfolio to Congress-turned-BJP leader Vikhe-Patil puts him on a bigger rank than others within the BJP.

In a shocking demotion in Shinde camp, former agriculture minister Dadaji Bhuse was given the charge of Ports and mining portfolios only. Gulabrao Patil has kept his earlier Water supply and sanitation department. Controversial minister and former forest minister Sanjay Rathod will be the new Food and Drug Administration minister. Shinde loyalist Sandipan Bhumare has got the Employment guarantee scheme and horticulture. Uday Samant will be the new Industries minister of Maharashtra while Tanaji Sawant is being given the responsibility of the Public Health department. Abdul Sattar is the new Agriculture minister while Deepak Kesarkar will be the new School Education and Marathi Language minister. Shambhuraj Desai will handle the State Excise department.