Maharashtra third state govt to run without ministers for a month

KCR was sworn in as the chief minister on December 13 in 2018 after coming to power with a thumping victory but expanded his cabinet on February 19, 2019

Mumbai It has been a month since chief minister Eknath Shinde and deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis were sworn in, but without a single minister in the cabinet, Maharashtra becomes the third in the country to be run by only two people for such a long time.

Similarly, Yediyurappa alone ran the BJP government in Karnataka for 25 days after taking the oath on July 26, 2019 (ANI)

Before this, K Chandrashekhar Rao, after becoming the chief minister of Telangana in 2019, expanded his cabinet after a gap of 66 days. Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) BS Yediyurappa alone ran the government alone for 25 days in 2019 before inducting ministers.

KCR was sworn in as the chief minister on December 13 in 2018 after coming to power with a thumping victory but expanded his cabinet on February 19, 2019. It is reportedly said that he chose to delay the cabinet expansion in the absence of an auspicious date.

Similarly, Yediyurappa alone ran the BJP government in Karnataka for 25 days after taking the oath on July 26, 2019. The BJP leadership did not allow him to expand the cabinet for 24 days despite making several attempts.

In the case of Maharashtra, Shinde and Fadnavis government is wary of the Supreme Court verdict on a bunch of petitions filed by both the factions of Shiv Sena that are scheduled to be heard on August 1.

The chief minister on Thursday said that the expansion is going to happen soon. “Very soon expansion of the state cabinet will take place. We have taken many major decisions ever since we have taken charge. The state government is standing with the farmers. We have ensured no government work is stuck. The projects that are of interest to the people are not affected,” Shinde said.

Congress leader and former minister Satej Patil on Friday took a jibe at the Shinde-Fadnavis government over cabinet expansion. “It appears that we will have to start an agitation for cabinet expansion of this government. Appoint four to five ministers from each of the parties and start the functioning. All the administrative work including transfers of the officers is stuck due to indecision. Maharashtra cannot be run by a cabinet of two ministers,” Patil said slamming the government.

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar also took potshots at the government. “The chief minister and deputy chief minister believe that they are capable enough to run the government on their own, thus expansion is still on hold.”

Political analyst Abhay Deshpande said that the Uddhav Thackeray government also worked for 40 days with only seven ministers in the state cabinet. “On November 28, Uddhav Thackeray was sworn in along with six ministers. The first and last cabinet expansion of his government took place on December 30. The delay in expansion of this government may be because of legal battle and internal dispute and they may break the 40 days record of the seven-member cabinet of Uddhav Thackeray government,” Deshpande said.