Maharashtra Cabinet expansion ‘soon’

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 29

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde today completed one month in office with only Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis is his Cabinet.

Shinde, who took oath on June 30 following a high drama spanning the length and breadth of the country for almost 10 days, has been functioning with no other minister since then.

Sources said the “formula of the Cabinet has been finalised and Shinde is meeting prospective ministers from his side, a reason why he had to postpone his planned visit to Delhi”.

The announcement of the Cabinet expansion can be expected “around August 1”, they said.

Interestingly, observers point to almost similar situations when BS Yediyurappa took oath as the CM of Karnataka in July 2019 and Shivraj Singh Chouhan as the CM of Madhya Pradesh in March 2020 after toppling the respective governments there.

For nearly a month after being sworn in, Chouhan led a one-man show amid criticism from the Opposition and speculations of division in the party. Likewise in Karnataka, it took more than three weeks for Yediyurappa to name his Cabinet members and another six days to decide on the portfolios.

All names were vetted by the central BJP leadership, sources said, adding that it was only after a deep scrutiny that the two CMs were allowed to expand their Cabinet.

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