By Our Special Correspondent
Shinde took oath as CM on June 30 along with Devendra Fadnavis who took oath as Deputy CM. Speaking to reporters at Nanded in Marathwada region, Shinde said, “The expansion of the ministry will take place tomorrow.
A dozen ministers will be sworn in at Raj Bhavan in South Mumbai on Tuesday at 11 am, a source close to Shinde told PTI on condition of anonymity. The next round of expansion will happen later, he added.
“The Monsoon Session of the State Legislature has to be held as soon as possible, so we have decided to include 12 legislators in the cabinet expansion.”Some of those taking oath on Tuesday will be present from the Legislative Council," said the aide.
Sources said that Shinde, who became a surprise pick for the top post by taking most of the Shiv Sena MLAs with him, would find it a difficult task to keep them all in the cabinet.
The names of Bharat Gogawale and Shambhuraj Desai from the Shinde group are in the news. State party chief Chandrakant Patil, Sudhir Mungantiwar, Girish Mahajan, Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, Suresh Khade and Atul Save are likely to join from BJP, party sources said.
But Shinde said that the names of those who will be sworn in as ministers are being finalized on Tuesday. "They will be finalized tonight or tomorrow (morning)," Shinde said.
The CM visited New Delhi seven times last month, and with each visit there was talk of cabinet expansion around the corner.
Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Assembly Ajit Pawar said that Shinde promised to give a minister post to every MLA who joined him. “Now Shinde has not been able to fulfill his promise, hence the delay in cabinet expansion. Pawar said that the Chief Minister should reveal the reasons for the delay.
Pawar said he has not received any invitation from the government so far for Tuesday's cabinet expansion. He clarified that not all of the 40 rebel Sena MLAs in Shinde's group will get ministerial posts.
A political observer said that the delay in Maharashtra was less compared to Telangana and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao waited for 61 days to form a full-fledged cabinet in 2019.
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