Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will be in the national capital today to meet the BJP high command and finalize the allocation of portfolios in the new state cabinet.
Shinde and Fadnavis held a meeting on Thursday evening to discuss the power-sharing deal and choose a team of ministers to run the new government.
According to party sources, 14 ministries were offered to the Shiv Sena faction and the remaining 28 would be with them as they would have to maintain caste and regional balance while allotting berths.
Sources further said that Shinde wanted to accommodate smaller allies such as Bachu Kadu and independents who had supported him in the rebellion from the BJP quota.
A leader of the Shinde camp revealed that the problem facing the Chief Minister at present is that nine out of the total 40 MLAs were ministers in the previous Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government and thus they have to take up more portfolios to accommodate more MLAs. Emphasizing on. in the new government.
The BJP is likely to lay claim to portfolios such as Home, Finance, Revenue, Cooperation and Marketing, Public Health, Agriculture, Industry and Rural Development. Shinde-led faction may get urban development, public works departments, water resources and school education departments.
Meanwhile, the MVA parties, the Nationalist Congress Party, the Congress and the Sena are expected to meet on July 17 to discuss the presidential election strategy, for which they have fielded Yashwant Sinha.
National Democratic Alliance candidate Draupadi Murmu is also likely to visit Maharashtra on July 14 and meet the ruling coalition’s legislators.
Shinde and Fadnavis easily cleared the trust vote on July 4 and proved their majority in the assembly after taking oath as chief minister and deputy chief minister on June 30.
After formally taking charge as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra on Thursday morning after winning the floor test, Shinde held several meetings with his deputy Fadnavis at the Sahyadri Guest House, reviewing SMART (State of Maharashtra Agri-business and Rural Transformation). was involved. Project) and Wainganga-Nalganga river linking project.
As expected, it was a busy first day for CMs who are known for hiring long hours. He attended the National Industrial Corridor Development and Implementation Trust (NICDIT) apex authority meeting for the first time, where he promised to provide land parcels for the Bengaluru-Mumbai Industrial Corridor at Koregaon in Satara district and said that land acquisition for the project The process will start soon.
In the apex authority meeting, Shinde urged the Center to give approval for the proposed textile park, medical park and bulk drug park in Maharashtra.
After the meeting he spent time with rebel Shiv Sena MLAs like Deepak Kesarkar, Sada Sarvankar and Balaji Kalyankar.