Maharashtra Cabinet: Why Eknath Shinde’s role in Devendra Fadnavis government is more powerful than you think

Maharashtra Cabinet: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis retained the Home Ministry as portfolio allocations were announced on Saturday evening. Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde was given the Urban Development portfolio while another Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar was given the Finance Ministry.

Evidently, Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde’s party has become number two in the Fadnavis-led Maharashtra government. The party has captured prestigious portfolios within the government among the three partners of the Mahayuti alliance – the Bharatiya Janata Festival (BJP), the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

Fadnavis and his two deputies took oath on December 5 after the ruling alliance secured a landslide return to power in the state. Governor PC Radhakrishnan swear an oath to 39 new ministers in Fadanvis’s cabinet on December 15 in Nagpur, a day before the start of the winter session of the state legislature.

As many as 11 key ministers of Maharashtra’s ruling Mahayuti alliance have been removed from the new Fadnavis-led government.

The lion’s share in ministries

Shinde clearly appears to have negotiated hard with the BJP – the largest party with 132 seats in the 288-member Maharashtra assembly – to get the lion’s share of the portfolio allocation. In addition to urban development, housing and Public works portfolios for himself, Shinde managed to secure for the party weighty departments such as industries, public health, water and school education, among others.

The Shiv Sena also managed to retain the state minister portfolios it previously held in the Eknath Shinde-led government. This is another question that Shinde had to face with the post of deputy CM. Shinde also couldn’t get Home, the portfolio he was considering.

But with the Ministry of Urban Development on his side, Shinde controls all urban local bodies and major infrastructure and housing agencies in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region and other cities in the state like the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), the City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra (CIDCO) and the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC).

Shinde and 11 Sena MLAs were inducted into the Fadnavis ministry last week. Shinde retained the key portfolios of urban development, housing and Public works (public companies) for himself, Uday Samant got the ministries of Industries and Marathi Language. Prakash Abitkar got public health and family welfare and Dada Bhuse got school education.

Among other Shiv Sena leaders, Bharat Gogawale got the transport ministry while Gulabrao Patil got water supply and sanitation. The soil and water conservation portfolio was given to Sanjay Rathod, while the tourism, mining and ex-servicemen welfare portfolio was given to Shambhuraj Desai. The Ministry of Social Justice was entrusted to Sanjay Shirsat.

Among the state ministers, Ashish Jaiswal has been appointed for Finance and Planning, Agriculture, Relief and Rehabilitation, Law and Justice, Labour, Yogesh Kadam is the state minister. MoS for the home (Urban), Revenue, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Civil Food Supplies and Consumer Protection, Food & Drug Administration.

Shinde appears to have negotiated hard with the BJP to get the lion’s share of the portfolio allocation.

In total, Shiv Sena has nine cabinets and two state ministers in the new government. He retained five ministers and removed three who were part of the previous one Mahayuti Government.