Fadnavis keeps Home, Shinde Urban Development, Ajit gets Finance

More than two weeks after he took the oath of office, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday 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 in Nagpur.Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde was allocated Urban Development, Housing and Public Works Department (public enterprises).NCP chief Ajit Pawar, another deputy chief minister, was allocated Finance and Planning, State Excise departments.
Chandrashekhar Bawankule will hold the revenue department while Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil will be in charge of the water resources department including Godavari and Krishna Valley Development Corporation. Hasan Mushrif will hold medical education, Chandrakant Patil higher and technical education and parliamentary affairs, Girish Mahajan water resources including Vidarbha, Tapi, Konkan Development Corporation and disaster management.
Ganesh Naik will hold forest, Gulabrao Patil water supply and sanitation, Dadaji Bhuse school education, Dhananjay Munde food and civil supplies and consumer protection, Mangallrabhat Lodha skill development, employment, entrepreneurship and innovation, Uday Samant industries and Marathi Language, Jaykumar Rawal marketing and protocol, Pankaja Munde environment and climate change and animal husbandry and Ashok Uike tribal development.
Atul Save will hold OBC welfare, dairy development and renewable energy, Shabhuraj Desai tourism, mining and ex-servicemen welfare, Ashish Shelar information technology and cultural affairs, Dattatray Bharne sports, youths welfare, minorities development and Aukaf, Aditi Tatkare women and child development and Shivendraraje Bhosale public works excluding public enterprises.
Manikrao Kokate will be in charge of agriculture, Jaykumar Gore rural development and panchayat raj, Narhari Zirwal food and drug administration and special assistance, Sanjay Savkare textiles, Sanjay Shirsat social justice, Pratap Sarnaik transport and Bharatsheth Gogawale employment guarantee, horticulture, salt pan land development, Makrand Jadhav Patil relief and rehabilitation, Nitesh Rane fisheries and ports, Akash Fundkar labour, Babasaheb Patil cooperation and Prakash Abitkar public health and family welfare.
Fadnavis had expanded his cabinet with the induction of 39 ministers on December 15. Even though he had announced that the portfolio allocation would be done in two days, it was delayed due to hard negotiations among the MahaYuti partners. The strength of the Fadnavis-led cabinet is 42 against 43 permissible under the legislative norms.