Maharashtra: NCP Gets Key Ministries Of Home, Finance As CM Uddhav Thackeray Allocates Portfolios

The much-awaited distribution of ministries in Maharashtra was carried out by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) getting the plum portfolios of Finance and Home, on Sunday (5 January).

In what was described as "an equitable allocation" of responsibilities, Chief Minister Thackeray will handle General Administration, IT, Information & Public Relations, Law & Judiciary and other departments not given to any other minister.

NCP's Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar is the new Finance Minister, his party colleague Anil V Deshmukh is the new Home Minister, and Jitendra Awhad gets the Housing Ministry.

Shiv Sena's Aditya Thackeray has been assigned Environment, Tourism and Protocol, senior colleague Subhas Desai will handle Industries and Mining Ministry, and Eknath Shinde is the new Urban Development & PWD (Public Undertakings) Minister.

From the Congress, Balasaheb Thorat will handle the Revenue Department, Nitin Raut will handle Energy Ministry, and ex-CM Ashok Chavan has been given the PWD Ministry.

The other important Cabinet portfolios allocated are:

Shiv Sena: Dadaji D Bhuse - Agriculture; Uday Samant - Higher and Technical Education; Sanjay D Rathod - Forest, Disaster Management, R and R; Gulabrao Patil - Water Supply and Sanitation; Sandipanrao Bhumre - Employment Guarantee and Horticulture; Anil Parab - Transport and Parliamentary Affairs; Shankarrao Gadakh (KSK Part) - Soil and Water Conservation.

NCP: Chhagan Bhujbal - Food and Civil Supplies; Jayant Patil - Water Resources and Command Area Development; Dhananjay P Munde - Social Justice and Special Assistance; Dilip Walse-Patil - Labour and State Excise; Nawab M Malik - Minority Development and Wakf, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship; Hasan Mushrif - Rural Development; Rajendra Shingane - Food and Drugs Administration, Public Health and Family Welfare; Rajesh Tope - Public Health and Family Welfare; Balasaheb P Patil - Cooperation and Marketing.

Congress: Varsha Gaikwad - School Education; Sunil Kedar - Animal Husbandry, Dairy Development, Sports and Youth Welfare; Vijay Wadettiwar - OBCs and all other backward classes, nomadic tribes, Khar lands development and Earthquake Rehabilitation; Amit V Deshmukh - Medical Education and Culture; K C Padvi - Tribal Development; Aslam R Shaikh - Textiles, Fisheries and Ports Development; Yashomati Thakur-Sonawane - Women and Child Development.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)