Maha cabinet likely to expand ahead of monsoon session: Sudhir Mungantiwar

Maharashtra minister and senior BJP leader Sudhir Mungantiwar Tuesday said a cabinet expansion can take place before the beginning of the monsoon session of the Assembly.

The monsoon session of the Assembly will start on June 17 and it will be the last one of the legislature before state polls later in the year.

Speaking to reporters at Mantralaya here after a cabinet meeting, he said there were some vacant ministerial posts from the BJP and Shiv Sena quota, adding "they will all get good news before the beginning of the monsoon session".

The Shiv Sena's Dr Deepak Sawant, who was state health minister in the Devendra Fadnavis government, had to step down after his party decided not to nominate him for another term in the state Legislative Council.

Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and FDA Girish Bapat is no longer part of the state government as he won the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from Pune.

Former Congress leader Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, who quit the party and the Assembly after the general elections, is likely to join the ruling BJP and is expected to be made a cabinet minister.