Thackeray clan’s youngest lawmaker joins Maharashtra Cabinet
ADITYA IS FIRST MEMBER OF CLAN TO CONTEST AND WIN ASSEMBLY SEAT
Yesterday’s cabinet expansion in Maharashtra saw NCP’s Ajit Pawar and Shiv Sena’s Aditya Thackeray among those being inducted as ministers.
Aditya is Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s son and the first member of the Thackeray clan to have contested and entered the Assembly.
Ajit Pawar is the nephew of NCP supremo Sharad Pawar and had briefly broken away to join hands with the BJP to form the short-lived Devendra Fadnavis government.
Around 30 members were inducted in yesterday’s expansion.
The Cabinet expansion comes 32 days after Uddhav was sworn in as chief minister of a coalition comprising the Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress parties, known as Maha Vikas Aghadi. Currently, the ministry comprises of seven members apart from the chief minister.
Earlier, when the Shiv Sena and the BJP had been allies and fought the assembly elections, Aditya had been projected as the deputy chief minister.
However, when the alliance broke and Shiv Sena tied up with the NCP and Congress to form the Maha Vikas Aghadi government, his father Uddhav became the chief minister.
Ajit, who was the deputy chief minister in the shortlived Fadnavis government, has since returned to the NCP fold and it was widely believed that he would be rehabilitated. He was anointed yesterday as deputy chief minister.