BJP set to keep major ministries like home, finance

The state can have a maximum of 43 members in the council of ministers, including the chief minister

Mumbai A fortnight after the coalition government was sworn in, the leaders seem to have arrived at a power-sharing agreement. The Eknath Shinde camp, which includes a total of 40 defectors from the Shiv Sena (including Shinde himself), may get 16 ministerial berths, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will retain the other 27.

Currently, only chief minister Eknath Shinde and deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis are there in the cabinet (HT Photo)

The state can have a maximum of 43 members in the council of ministers, including the chief minister. According to information, the Shinde faction which has one third of the MLAs in the ruling alliance, has managed to get more than 30% of the ministerial berths. While BJP has conceded a little more in terms of berths in the ministry, in return it has bagged key departments like home, finance, revenue, cooperation and water resources that will give the party control of the government.

“The Shinde camp may get urban development, public health, medical education, agriculture and rural development. The BJP is also eager to retain departments like housing for the urban connect,” said a senior BJP leader.

Currently, only chief minister Eknath Shinde and deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis are there in the cabinet. The expansion of the cabinet is likely next week, after presidential elections on July 18.

However, not all the slots in the council of ministers are expected to be filled at once. “To hold out a carrot for any disgruntled legislators, some berths in the council of ministers will be kept vacant,” said the BJP leader.

A senior Shiv Sena leader claimed that the differences in the Shinde camp could come to the fore if many claimants for cabinet posts felt left out. Ministers who had jumped ship to Shinde expect to be accommodated in the council of ministers, while some legislators expected to be promoted as ministers. It is learnt that some like Bacchu Kadu, who was a minister of state in the Thackeray regime, are eager for a cabinet portfolio like agriculture.

A legislator close to Fadnavis claimed that the BJP’s choice of ministerial faces may be “as surprising as the decision to anoint Eknath Shinde as the chief minister with Devendra Fadnavis as his deputy.” He added that the BJP’s names may include defectors from parties like the Congress and NCP like Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil and Ganesh Naik. BJP legislators Ravindra Chavan and Sanjay Kute may be included in the council of ministers, while independent MLA Ravi Rana, who had taken on the Shiv Sena over the Hanuman Chalisa issue, may also be made a minister of state.

There are chances that if Chandrakant Patil, the incumbent BJP Maharashtra president is inducted as a cabinet minister, a leader from the other backward classes (OBC) like Pankaja Munde, may be brought in to head the party in Maharashtra.

Pankaja, daughter of late Gopinath Munde, is a mass leader of the BJP in Maharashtra, and had lost the 2019 assembly elections to estranged cousin Dhananjay Munde of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) from her father’s pocket borough of Parli in Beed district. Counted as one of Fadnavis’ adversaries within the BJP, Pankaja has been reportedly sidelined by being overlooked for nominations to the state legislative council.