18 MLAs sworn into new Maharashtra Cabinet as ministers

Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde on Tuesday retained all of Shiv Sena's eight ministers from the previous Uddhav Thackeray government in his new Cabinet. Rebel Sena MLA Tanaji Sawant is the new ministerial face.

Nine leaders from the BJP and nine from the Sena took oath as ministers around 11:15 today in a ceremony at the Raj Bhavan.

The ministers from the BJP are: Chandrakant Patil, Sudhir Mungantiwar, Girish Mahajan, Suresh Khade, Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, Ravindra Chavhan, Mangal Prabhat Lodha, Vijaykumar Gavit, and Atul Save.

The ministers from the Shiv Sena are: Dada Bhuse, Shambhuraje Desai, Sandeepan Bhumre, Uday Samant, Tanaji Sawant, Abdul Sattar, Deepak Kesarkar, Gulabrao Patil, and Sanjay Rathaud.

On Tuesday morning, the Chief Minister met Shiv Sena legislators backing him, ahead of the expansion of his two-member ministry. The meeting took place at the Sahyadri guest house in south Mumbai.

Maharashtra Cabinet expansion | Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari administers the oath of office to 18 MLAs as ministers pic.twitter.com/2eDIBVxWj3
— ANI (@ANI) August 9, 2022

Shinde is backed by 40 of the 55 Shiv Sena MLAs.

Shinde was sworn in as the chief minister and BJP's Devendra Fadnavis took oath as deputy CM on June 30.

With the induction of 18 ministers, the strength of the Maharashtra ministry will become 20, less than half the maximum allowed strength of 43. The next round of expansion would take place later, sources told PTI.

(THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS)

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