Cabinet reshuffle likely in Oct; CM undecided on date

MUMBAI: With a year left for the Devendra Fadnavis-led government in Maharashtra to complete its five-year term, the chief minister (CM) is expected to carry out a long-awaited expansion of his cabinet this month.

While there has been speculation over possible dates for the reshuffle, including October 10 and October 13, when asked, Fadnavis said that dates for the reshuffle remained “undecided” but it will happen. The cabinet expansion has been pending since November last year and has been postponed several times by the CM.

“The cabinet expansion will definitely happen soon, most likely this month. The CM would like to take the Shiv Sena along in this exercise. So he may chose to wait until the Sena’s Dussehra rally is over,” said a BJP minister. “We will have to do an expansion as several aspirants have been waiting for a long time. This is also our last chance to adjust regional and caste representations in the cabinet and induct fresh faces ahead of the polls.’’

The Sena has so far maintained it would not participate in the cabinet rejig. The party’s stance may get clearer at its annual Dussehra rally.

The current strength of Fadnavis’ council of ministers is 38, including 24 from BJP, 12 from Sena, one from the Rashtriya Samaj Paksha and peasants’ leader Sadabhau Khot. After the death of agriculture minister Pandurang Fundkar, the BJP has one vacancy in the cabinet.

Fadnavis can induct as many as five new ministers from his party, as the maximum strength of the council of ministers in the state can be 43. However, CM may prefer to induct three to four new faces in the cabinet and drop some existing non-performing ministers. In a bid to woo the Sena for an alliance in the upcoming polls, the BJP will offer the party better portfolios. State housing minister Prakash Mehta may lose his portfolio after the controversy over a slum-rehabilitation project in Tardeo, or may even get dropped from the cabinet. The other ministers who may get the boot are social justice minister Rajkumar Badole, water supply and sanitation minister Babanrao Lonikar, and minister of state for tribal development Ambarish Atram.

Some of the BJP leaders, who are being considered for a ministerial role, include the party’s city unit chief Ashish Shelar, Nashik legislator Devyani Farande, Sangli legislator Shivajirao Naik, and Amravati legislator Anil Bonde.