Kotak to fight BJP’s BMC battle, as ministerial allocations take time

Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday decided to retain the Urban Development and the Home & Finance departments for themselves respectively, while allocating portfolios of the state cabinet. With the induction of incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Chandrakant Patil in the cabinet, Chandrashekar Bawankule is expected to replace him in the post. Meanwhile, Manoj Kotak was entrusted with the charge of Mumbai’s forthcoming civic body elections.

Cabinet expansion on Tuesday was executed keeping in mind the ensuing Monsoon session of the state legislature to proliferate treasury benches with another in the offing in September. This will be held during Ganesh Chaturthi just before the onset of the 15 days of Pitrupaksh at around September 12. Even as the official portfolio announcements were expected to be made late on Tuesday night, sources indicated that Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil was the new Revenue & Cooperatives minister, Mangal Prabhat Loda will have Law and Judiciary department charge, Shamhuraj Desai will take charge as the the Excise department minister, Uday Samant will get Industries, Sudhir Mungantiwar will handle Power and Forests, and Atul Save will bag the Public Health department.

Similarly, Tanaji Sawant is the likely to receive the portfolio of Higher and Technical Education, while Housing will probably go to Ravindra Chavan. Deepak Kesarkar will, in all likelihood, take charge of Tourism and Environment departments, Abdul Sattar will handle Minority Affairs, Sandipan Bhumre will be Employment Guarantee Scheme minister. According to sources, Gularao Patil may secure the Water Supply department, while Social Justice and Water Resources may go to Suresh Khade and Girish Mahajan respectively. Surprisingly, Chandrakant Dada Patil is being touted as the next Public Works Department minister. Sources have indicated that Sanjay Rathod has bagged Rural Development, while Dada Bhuse has secured Agriculture.