Maharashtra Cabinet Expansion: CM Fadnavis hints at review of ministers, Dy CM Pawar warns non-performers

Maharashtra Cabinet Expansion: Chief Minister of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis has said Mahayuti allies have agreed to conduct a ‘performance audit’ of ministers during their tenure. Fadanvis’ comments came after the Maharashtra cabinet was expanded on the eve of the winter session of the state assembly on Sunday. 

While Fadnavis didn’t mention any timeline, his deputy and Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde said the ministers of his party will get two-and-a-half years and only those who perform will progress. NCP leader and deputy CM Ajit Pawar said “non-performers” can be replaced in two-and-a-half months also.

“Performance audit of ministers will be done and all three of us have agreed to this,” Fadnavis told media, PTI reported.

Governor P C Radhakrishnan administered the oath to 39 new ministers in Fadanvis’ cabinet on Sunday. The ceremony took place just a day before the start of the winter session of the state legislature on December 16.

Thirty-three MLAs were sworn in as cabinet ministers, and six took oath as ministers of state.

‘Two-and-a-half-years term’

Hours before the cabinet expansion, Pawar said that some of those who took oath would have a tenure of two-and-a-half-years, underlining constraints in accommodating aspirations of hopefuls.

The portfolios will be announced in two-three days, Fadnavis said, adding that the new administration’s focus will be on swift development.

He said he and his deputies- Shinde and Pawar– have told new ministers that they would be subjected to a performance audit.

Shinde said the Shiv Sena decided to give two-and-a-half years to new ministers. “Those who work good will progress,” he added.

The BJP, which won 132 seats in the assembly elections, got the largest chunk of 16 ministers of Cabinet rank and three Ministers of State. Shiv Sena was allotted nine Cabinet ministers and two MoS, while the NCP will have eight ministers of Cabinet rank and a minister of state.

Among the new inductees, four are women, including Pankaja Munde, Madhuri Misal, and Meghna Bordikar of BJP and Aditi Tatkare of NCP. Munde and Tatkare took oath as Cabinet ministers, and Bordikar and Misal as MoS.

From Shiv Sena, former ministers Tanaji Sawant, Deepak Kesarkar, and Abdul Sattar were not re-inducted. Anil Patil, Sanjay Bandsode, and Dharmarao Baba Atram of NCP also missed the second chance.

The swearing-in ceremony at Raj Bhavan in Nagpur was conducted 33 years after the expansion of the Sudhakarrao Naik cabinet in 1991.

The Cabinet expansion saw the re-entry of state BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule, Jaykumar Raval, Pankaja Munde, and Ashok Uike, who had served as ministers during Fadnavis’ first term from 2014 to 2019.

With the new inductees, the strength of the Fadnavis-led ministry has gone up to 42, including the CM and his deputies Eknath Shinde (Shiv Sena) and Ajit Pawar (NCP). One berth has been kept vacant.

While the BJP secured 19 ministerial berths by virtue of being the largest among allies, Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party were allotted 11 and nine berths, respectively.

On December 5, Devendra Fadnavis was sworn-in Chief Minister with Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde and NCP chief Ajit Pawar as his deputies.