18 ministers take oath in Maharashtra; Fadnavis likely to become home minister

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra cabinet led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has been expanded as 18 MLAs took oath as ministers on Tuesday. Nine legislators each from the BJP and the Shiv Sena sworn in as cabinet ministers at Raj Bhavan in Mumbai. The ministers have taken oath after 40 days of Eknath Shinde assuming office as the chief minister. So far, chief minister and deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis were in charge of state’s governance.

From the BJP, Chandrakant Patil, Sudhir Mungantiwar, Girish Mahajan, Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, Suresh Khade, Atul Save, Mangalprabhat Lodha, Vijaykumar Gavit and Ravindra Chavan are now named as ministers. While from the Shiv Sena, Uday Samant, Dada Bhuse, Sandipan Bhumre, Rajendra Patil Yadravkar, Shambhuraj Desai, Gulabrao Patil, Sanjay Shirsat, Tanaji Sawant, Deepak Kesarkar and Bachchu Kadu administered the oath on Tuesday. Although, the details regarding the portfolios have not come out yet, Devendra Fadnavis is likely to become the minister of home affairs.