Maharashtra: BJP's Devendra Fadnavis may get Home, Vijaykumar Gavit Tribal Development portfolio

After finally expanding the Maharashtra cabinet the Eknath ShindeDevendra Fadnavis government will have to do the tightrope in allocating portfolios and as per speculation the senior Bharatiya Janata Party BJP leader may get the crucial Home ministryFadnavis currently the deputy Chief Minister will get the Home portfolio for sure a senior BJP leader said on Wednesday on the condition of anonymityNotably a multicrore scam of siphoning off tribal welfare funds had happened under the watch of Gavit as the tribal development minister between 200412 in the then CongressNCP government Gavit was a former MLA of Congress and NCPA day earlier Chief Minister Eknath Shinde expanded his cabinet 41 days after taking the oath of office A total of 18 MLAs including nine each from the Shinde faction of Shiv Sena and the BJP took oath as the cabinet ministersFadnavis handled the Home department when he was the chief minister of the BJPShiv Sena government during 201419It is not yet clear which departments Chief Minister Shinde will keep for himselfAlso Read Bombay HC grants anticipatory bail to BJP leader Kirit Somaiya his son in cheating caseShinde may retain Urban Development Department and the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation MSRDC said his close aideIn the erstwhile Maha Vikas Aghadi MVA government Shinde held the Public Works Department public sector undertakings Urban Development and MSRDCDuring the tenure of the Nationalist Congress PartyCongress government from 1999 to 2014 the Urban Development Department had been retained by the chief ministers who headed the coalitionThe maximum strength of the Maharashtra cabinet can be 43 including the chief minister With Tuesdays expansion its current strength is 20Devendra Fadnavis was the chief minister in the 201419 period and he had kept the home ministry with him It was useful for him to keep a check on persons of concern in his party as well as from other parties He will retain the Home ministry for sure the BJP leader saidHe said the Social Justice Department will be assigned to Dr Suresh Khade given the norm that the ministry is represented by leaders from backward communitiesKhade is the lone MLA of the BJP from the Sangli district in western Maharashtra He is seen as its Dalit face He was social justice minister in the Fadnavis government from 201419The BJP might pick Dr Vijaykumar Gavit who represents Nandurbar as the Tribal Development Minister said the leaderNotably a scam of siphoning off Rs 6000 crore had happened under the watch of Gavit as the tribal development minister between 200412 in the then CongressNCP government Gavit was a former MLA of Congress and NCP He joined BJP in 2014Maharashtra BJP president and former minister Chandrakant Patil who is one of the 18 inductees in the state cabinet may land a plum portfolioHe had served as the minister of Revenue and Cooperation when Fadnavis was the chief minister Another senior BJP leader Sudhir Mungantiwar may also get a key portfolio He had held Finance and Forest departments earlierHowever the BJP will have to share some key portfolios with the Shinde camp in view of the altered political scenarioAll the Shiv Sena rebels who had resigned as ministers of the previous MVA government to join the Shinde camp were inducted into the new cabinet on TuesdayThey are also keen to retain their previous portfolios Former ministers and Shinde loyalists Dada Bhuse Uday Samant and Gulabrao Patil had held the ministries of agriculture higher and technical education and water supply and sanitation respectivelyThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever