Maharashtra cabinet expansion to take place on August 9

Eknath Shinde and Devendra Fadnavis. File Pic

A senior state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader on Monday said that the much awaited expansion of the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra cabinet will take place on August 9.

"The cabinet expansion will take place tomorrow in Mumbai. I cannot divulge any details about it and who will be in the cabinet," a senior BJP leader told PTI.

A dozen ministers will take oath at Tuesday's ceremony, scheduled at Raj Bhavan at 12 pm, a close aide of Shinde told PTI.

The next round of expansion would take place later, the aide said.

"The monsoon session of the state legislature has to be held at the earliest, so we decided to induct 12 legislators in the ministry expansion. Some of those taking the oath on Tuesday would be from the Legislative Council," the aide said.

Shiv Sena MLA Shinde and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis were sworn in as chief minister and deputy chief minister respectively on June 30 after the resignation of Uddhav Thackeray due to a rebellion in the Sena ranks.

Fadnavis and Shinde visited Delhi multiple times in the recent past regarding the issue of cabinet expansion.

On Saturday, Shinde said the state government's functioning has not been affected in any way due to the delay in the expansion of the council of ministers and that more ministers will be inducted soon.

Meanwhile, the opposition Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) hit out at the Shinde government over the delay in cabinet expansion and asked if it was not getting 'mahurat' (auspicious time) to undertake the exercise.
Leaders of both the Shinde group and the BJP have repeatedly said the cabinet expansion will be done "soon", but nothing has happened so far, said the Sharad Pawar-led party.

The Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government in Maharashtra cannot expand the cabinet until they receive a "green signal" from Delhi which is simple mathematics, Maharashtra opposition leader Ajit Pawar said.

(With inputs from PTI)