Shinde can expand the cabinet

Mumbai (IANS) | With the Supreme Court verdict removing uncertainties over the state government, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde may soon take the cabinet reshuffle into his own hands. Party leaders gave this indication on Friday.

This will be crucial ahead of the coming civic polls in 2024, followed by the Lok Sabha and state assembly polls.

After toppling the Maha Vikas Aghadi government led by former CM Uddhav Thackeray, Shinde was sworn in as the chief minister on June 30, 2022, along with Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis of the Bharatiya Janata Party, of the Shiv Sena.

Earlier, Shinde-Fadnavis managed the show for about 40 days before inducting 18 ministers, all cabinet rank, on August 9, 2022.

For nearly 10 months now, Shinde has been heading a 20-member team, with all ministers holding multiple portfolios in a 50:50 ratio between the two colleagues.

This created resentment among leaders of both the Shiv Sena-BJP, as several senior leaders were dropped from the cabinet, besides pressure from over 10 independents and other smaller parties supporting the Shinde-Fadnavis government.

The Maharashtra Legislative Assembly has a total of 288 members, so the maximum number of ministers in the government can be 43 against the current strength of 20.

The government has also faced a lot of criticism for not having any woman as a minister, inadequate regional representation and other issues, which may be rectified in the upcoming reshuffle-cum-expansion.

Apart from a correction on regional or caste imbalances, portfolios of some of the current ministers from both the parties are likely to be reshuffled based on their performance report cards of the last 10 months.

Additionally, the posts of chairpersons of several government-run corporations and institutions, which have been lying vacant for almost a year, may also be filled after the cabinet exercise.

According to indications, the expansion and reshuffle of the Council of Ministers may happen before the monsoon session of the state legislature, which is usually scheduled in July.

–IANS