Mumbai: The government will finally run full steam a month after the election results were announced. The cabinet berths have finally been announced; that too within hours of the winter session concluding in Nagpur, when Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said rather cryptically, “The way is clear for portfolio allotment. You can expect it tonight or by tomorrow.”
Sources said Fadnavis and his deputies Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar met over breakfast on Saturday for 30 minutes to finally sort out the messy allocation. Earlier, the big casualty of dithering on the portfolios forced the session to skip the question hour on all the six days it functioned. The Shiv Sena, which was said to be holding back the decision, got 10 cabinet berths and one minister of state. The NCP has got more departments than last time, including state excise and cooperation. The cooperation department plays an important part in the rural economy through sugar factories, banking, dairy units and the spinning mills.
Portfolios Divided To Prevent Concentration Of Power
After the portfolios were announced on Saturday night, sources pointed out how key departments have been bifurcated, making sure that no one minister gets a complete area to oneself. Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil who had been the Revenue Minister during the previous government has now got a bifurcated Water Resources department with the responsibility of Maharashtra Krishna Valley Development Corporation (MKVDC) and Godavari Marathwada Irrigation Development Corporation. Girish Mahajan, has bagged another part of the water resources department with irrigation development corporations for the Vidarbha, Tapi and Konkan regions.
He will also handle disaster management which, surprisingly, has been separated from the relief and rehabilitation department. That department has gone to NCP’s Makrand Jadhav Patil.
