Deshmukh says in no hurry to expand Cabinet

Deshmukh had earlier indicated that he would add more people to his team after the Assembly session. As many as three slots in the Congress quota are vacant.

The Chief Minister sought to downplay strains between the Congress and his coalition partner, the NCP, in the aftermath of the civic polls in which the latter had upstaged his party. The development had so upset state Congress president Prabha Rau that she had publicly stated that her party would have to re-think its ties with the NCP in future. Deshmukh said there was a ceasefire now.

Deshmukh avoided a categorical reply when asked about withdrawing the free power supply to farmers. He termed news reports on this count as mere ‘‘speculation’’. He said, ‘‘The government is only three months old. We need data to take a decision.”