Maharashtra Cabinet: 17 out of 18 former ministers take oath; no woman on the list

The much-delayed expansion of the 41-day-old Maharashtra ministry saw as many as 17 former ministers taking oath on Tuesday. Of the 18 ministers sworn in at the Raj Bhavan ceremony, only one has become a minister for the first time.

The list doesn't include a woman, a move being panned by politicians and women's rights activists. “Maharashtra was the first state in the country to give reservations for women. When 50 per cent of India's population is of women, they are not represented in the state cabinet,” NCP MP Supriya Sule said.

The new ministers include Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Rathod, who was the forest minister when Uddhav Thackeray was the Chief Minister and was forced to resign after BJP leaders blamed him for a woman's suicide.

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The new ministers include state BJP president Chandrakant Patil (63), who is a two-term MLC and first-term MLA from western Maharashtra. He was Revenue and PWD minister during 2014-19. Girish Mahajan (62) is a BJP leader from north Maharashtra and has won Assembly elections six consecutive times. He is known for his proximity to Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis.

Sudhir Mungantiwar (60) is a six-term BJP MLA from Vidarbha’s Chandrapur district. He served as finance and forest minister during 2014-19. Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil (63) is a seven-term MLA from Ahmednagar district. He was the leader of the opposition in the Assembly while in Congress during 2014-19 but won the 2019 Assembly election on a BJP ticket. Ravindra Chavan (51) of BJP is a three-term MLA from Thane district. He served as a minister of state during 2014-19.

Vijaykumar Gavit (67) is a five-term MLA, who left NCP in 2014 to join the BJP. He is from north Maharashtra’s Nandurbar district. Atul Save (60) is a second-term BJP MLA from Marathwada (Dist Aurangabad). He is a former minister of state. Mangal Prabhat Lodha (66) is a five-term BJP MLA from Mumbai. He is also the Mumbai unit president of the party. Lodha, a prominent builder, has declared assets worth Rs 441 crore in the 2019 Assembly election, making him the richest MLA in the state. Suresh Khade (64) is a second-term BJP MLA from western Maharashtra’s Sangli district.

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He is a minister of state. Among the nine legislators sworn in from Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s group of rebel Shiv Sena MLAs, Gulabrao Patil (56) is a four-term Shiv Sena MLA from north Maharashtra’s Jalgaon district. He was a minister in the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government. Uday Samant (46) is a four-term Shiv Sena MLA from Ratnagiri district, He was a minister in the MVA government.

Sandipan Bhumre (59) is a five-term Sena MLA from Marathwada’s Aurangabad district. He was a cabinet minister in the previous government. Dada Bhuse (58) is a four-term Shiv Sena MLA from north Maharashtra’s Nashik district. He was a minister in the MVA government. Shambhuraj Desai (55) is a three-term Sena MLA from Satara district.

He was a junior minister in the MVA government. Sanjay Rathod (51) is a four-term Sena MLA from the Yavatmal district. Tanaji Sawant (58) is a first-term Sena MLA from Osmanabad district. He is a former member of the Legislative Council and a former minister. Abdul Sattar (54) is a three-term MLA from Marathwada. He was with Congress in his first two terms and joined the Sena in 2019. Deepak Kesarkar (67) is a three-term MLA from Shiv Sena. He is from the Sindhudurg district and is a former minister of state.