Maha portfolios: Ajit Pawar gets Finance, Anil Deshmukh Home

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar has got the finance and planning department while his party colleague Anil Deshmukh is the new Home minister of the state, a senior official said on Sunday.

Besides, first-time Shiv Sena MLA Aaditya Thackeray, who is the son of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, has been given charge of the environment, tourism and protocol departments, he said.

Senior Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat has got the revenue ministry, the official added.

With this allocation of portfolios, the Sharad Pawar- led NCP has got most of the 'plum' ministries.

There were speculations that either Ajit Pawar or Jayant Patil of the NCP would get the Home department, but the portfolio has been allocated to their party colleague Anil Deshmukh.

Earlier, Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari approved the allocation of portfolios as proposed by the chief minister.

The list of portfolios to be allocated to ministers was sent to the governor on Saturday evening.

The Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government, comprising the Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress, had been facing criticism from the opposition BJP for delay in the allocation of portfolios despite being in power for over a month now.

Chief Minister Thackeray and six of his council members - two each from the Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress - took oath on November 28.

Thackeray expanded his month-old ministry on December 30 by inducting 36 ministers.