Mahayuti Alliance In Maharashtra
(L to R) Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, CM Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Ajit Pawar | ANI
Amid mega swearing-in ceremony preparations at Azad Maidan in Mumbai, Shiv Sena UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray and 19 chief ministers and their deputies received invitations for the event, reports suggested Tuesday.
The grand event, scheduled on December 5, will also be attended by PM Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president JP Nadda, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and others.
List of Chief Ministers to attend the event:
Nitin Kumar – Chief Minister, Bihar
Chandrababu Naidu – Chief Minister, Andhra Pradesh
Himanta Biswa Sharma – Chief Minister, Assam
Yogi Adityanath – Chief Minister, Uttar Pradesh
Bhupendra Patel – Chief Minister, Gujarat
Mohan Yadav – Chief Minister, Madhya Pradesh
Pushkar Singh Dhami – Chief Minister, Uttarakhand
Bhajanlal Sharma – Chief Minister, Rajasthan
Naib Singh Saini – Chief Minister, Haryana
Vishnudev Sai – Chief Minister, Chhattisgarh
Pramod Sawant – Chief Minister, Goa
Conrad Sangma – Chief Minister, Meghalaya
Prema Khandu – Chief Minister, Arunachal Pradesh
Manik Saha – Chief Minister, Tripura
BJP to get 17 cabinet berths
Meanwhile, several reports on Tuesday suggested names of 17 probable BJP ministers who are likely to be inducted into the Mahayuti government.
BJP ministers Ashish Shelar, Mangal Prabhat Lodha, Rahul Narvekar, Ravindra Chavan, Ganesh Naik, Nitesh Rane, and Atul Bhatkhalkar are likely to be inducted from the Mumbai region.
From Western Maharashtra, leaders like Madhuri Misal, Shivendrasinhraje Bhosale, Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, and Gopichand Padalkar are said to find their names in the cabinet list.
In addition to this, Vidarbha leaders Chandrashekhar Bawankule and Sanjay Kute may be inducted.
From North Maharashtra, leaders like Jaykumar Rawal and Girish Mahajan may join the cabinet, while Marathwada leaders Atul Save and Pankaja Munde could be inducted.
Seven Shinde ministers likely to be inducted
Moreover, as per reports, seven Shiv Sena ministers including Eknath Shinde are likely to join the cabinet. Names of these ministers are: Shambhuraj Desai, Dada Bhuse, Gulabrao Patil, Sanjay Rathod, Uday Samant, and Arjun Khotkar.
The list of probable ministers to become a part of the Maharashtra cabinet comes as the Shiv Sena and BJP have entered the final stages of the discussion.
Ajit Pawar expected to continue as DY CM
Meanwhile, NCP chief Ajit Pawar is expected to continue as the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, with several other leaders likely to join the cabinet.
These include Chhagan Bhujbal, Aditi Tatkare, Dhananjay Munde, Sanjay Bansode, Anil Bhaidas Patil and Narhari Zirwal.
BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis is being considered the frontrunner for the chief minister’s post, but the Mahayuti alliance has not announced any name yet with the state BJP legislature party’s meeting scheduled to take place on December 4.
Maharashtra BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule has been overseeing preparations for the ceremony and visited the venue in south Mumbai on Monday.
While Bawankule had earlier said that Modi will attend the event, invitations have also been extended to Chief Ministers and Deputy Chief Ministers of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA)-ruled states. Additionally, central ministers, governors and key central BJP office- bearers are also expected to be present, BJP sources said.
A meeting to finalise the preparations was held at the state BJP office on Tuesday, attended by Mumbai unit chief Ashish Shelar, the party’s leader in the Maharashtra legislative council Pravin Darekar, Prasad Lad and others.
The BJP has also invited religious leaders, artists and writers from across the state. “The swearing-in ceremony will showcase the spirit of the Mahayuti alliance while honouring Maharashtra’s cultural diversity,” a senior leader said.
Fadnavis, a two-time former chief minister, is widely seen as the likely candidate for the top post. The BJP has named Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman and former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani as central observers for the Wednesday morning meeting where the state legislature party leader will be elected.
The saffron party recorded its best-ever electoral performance by winning 132 seats in the 288-member Maharashtra legislative assembly in the November 20 elections. The Mahayuti coalition that includes Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party won a total of 230 seats.
The Shiv Sena on Monday said the home portfolio should be given to it if the BJP got the CM post.
There were reports that caretaker CM Eknath Shinde had conveyed his displeasure at not being given a second chance as CM by retreating to his village Dare in Satara district, but he attributed the visit to a need for rest after a hectic election campaign.
