Cabinet expansion in Maha soon, says CM Fadnavis

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis Friday said there would be a cabinet expansion in the state but did give any time frame for the exercise.

The monsoon session of the state legislature, scheduled to begin on June 17, will be the last in the state before it goes to polls later this year.

"A cabinet expansion will happen," Fadnavis told reporters.

Currently, there are 37 ministers including Fadnavis, and there is scope for five additional ministers.

While the BJP has 16 cabinet ministers and seven in the rank of minister of state (MoS), the Shiv Sena has five ministers of cabinet rank and the lone MoS.

Allies have a cabinet and minister of state each.

He said Education Minister Vinod Tawde will hold additional charge of Parliamentary Affairs while Tourism Minister Jaykumar Raval will look after the Food and Civil Supplies ministry.

Parliamentary Affairs and Food and Civil Supplies were portfolios held by Girish Bapat who became an MP in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls after winning from Pune.

At present, PWD minister Eknath Shinde is holding additional charge of the Health department after Deepak Sawant's resignation.

In other developments, Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil was Friday named the new guardian minister for Pune in place of Bapat. Patil was earlier guardian minister of Jalgaon.

Water Resources minister Girish Mahajan, who is the guardian minister of Nashik, will also hold charge of Jalgaon.