Maharashtra portfolios: Fadnavis retains Home, Ajit Finance, Shinde gets Urban Development

MUMBAI, Dec 22: More than two weeks after he took the oath of office, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has allocated portfolios to his council of ministers, retaining the crucial Home department with him.
Fadnavis will also handle Energy, Law and Judiciary, General Administration Department and Information and Publicity departments, an official statement said here on Saturday.
Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde was allocated Urban Development, Housing and Public Works Department (public enterprises).Ajit Pawar, another deputy CM, got Finance and Planning, State Excise.
Notably, Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar had handled the Home and Finance, respectively, in the previous Eknath Shinde-led government.
Leaders of the Shinde-led Shiv Sena had said they expected their party would get the Home department.
But BJP sources indicated that the saffron party, which won 132 out of 288 seats in the November 20 assembly polls against the Shiv Sena’s 57 and Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party’s 41 seats, would not cede the important portfolio.
The portfolios were allocated on Saturday after the week-long winter session of the state Legislature ended here earlier in the day.
As many as 39 ministers were sworn in on December 15, before the start of the session, while Fadnavis and his two deputies took the oath of office on December 5.The Mahayuti alliance of the BJP, NCP and Shiv Sena swept the assembly elections, winning 230 of 288 seats. (PTI)