After Eknath Shinde stepped aside and let the BJP’s central leadership decide on its chief ministerial choice, a power struggle broke out within the ruling MahaYuti over the allocation of key portfolios like Home, Finance, Revenue and Urban development in the impending State Cabinet.
Apart from the key portfolios like Home, Finance, Revenue and Urban development, there will be a lot of bargaining among the MahaYuti constituents over other important portfolios like Agriculture, Industries, Water Resources, Forests, Rural Development and Energy.
On its part, the BJP will not easily let go of portfolios like the Home, Finance and Urban Development. In the earlier Cabinet, chief Minister Eknath Shinde held the Urban Development portfolio, while deputy chief ministers Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar held the state Home and Finance portfolios respectively.
Given that the BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis will in all likelihood be the next chief minister of Maharashtra, the power-sharing formula will remain more or less the same – there will be a chief minister and two deputy chief ministers in the new government. While Fadnavis will be at the helm of affairs, Shinde and Ajit Pawar will be his two deputies.
On his part, Fadnavis – who is set to take over the reins of the state from Shinde – sought not to speak much on chief ministerial choice. “ You will soon get an answer (as to who will be the next chief minister). All senior members of MahaYuti will meet and decide.”
Talking to media persons separately, Ajit Pawar, who is the NCP President, said that the formation of new government will take place during the weekend.
“We are meeting tomorrow to decide who would become the CM. I think the swearing in would happen either on November 30 or December 1”
Since the Maharashtra Assembly comprises 288 members, there can be a maximum of 43 ministers in the State Cabinet -- a number that accounts for 15 percent of total members in the lower House of the State Legislature.
In the new Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, the BJP has a strength of 132 MLAs, followed by 57 MLAs belonging to the Shinde-led Shiv Sena and 41 to the Ajit Pawar-led NCP.
In the normal course, the BJP can get 21 ministerial berths, while the Shinde Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar-led can have 12 and 10 ministers respectively in the new State Cabinet.
In the outgoing Eknath Shinde-led State Cabinet, there were only Cabinet ministers, as the chief minister had resisted from appointing Ministers of State in his Cabinet. In the previous Shinde Cabinet, there were 29 ministers – all Cabinet-ranked ones. The Shinde Cabinet consisted of 10 ministers each from the Shinde Sena and BJP, while the NCP had nine ministers. The 29 ministers included chief minister Shinde and his two deputies -- Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar.
However, given that the MahaYuti has got absolute mandate, the chief minister-to- be in the new government will give representation to all the regions in the state -- Mumbai-Konkan, Western Maharashtra, North Maharashtra, Marathwada and Vidarbha.
