Maharashtra: Special legislature session from today, cabinet expansion later

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis greets Pro-tem Speaker Kalidas Kolambkar at Raj Bhavan on Friday. Pic/Raj Bhavan

With Mahayuti allies still contemplating a power-sharing formula, the new MLAs will take their oaths at a special session of the state legislature to be held between Saturday and Monday. Mahayuti leaders are expected to meet on Saturday to take the power-sharing talks forward. DyCM Eknath Shinde is said to have insisted on having some plum portfolios for his party. One of them is home. Ajit Pawar, the other DyCM, has also listed his preferences, including finance.

On Friday, senior-most MLA Kalidas Kolambkar was sworn in as pro-tem speaker. The BJP member will administer the oath to MLAs on the first two days of the session. The Upper House will be convened on Monday. Maharashtra Governor C P Radhakrishnan will address a joint session of both Houses. The speech will be the policy statement of the Devendra Fadnavis government.

While lobbying for cabinet berths, MLAs who worked in the previous government are particularly concerned about the parameters the ministers' selection will be based on. In addition, the BJP has reservations over re-inducting some former ministers from the Shinde Sena and NCP because they were mired in controversies.

Having three spots taken by the CM and two DyCMs, only 40 ministerial berths will be available for the alliance partners. Of these, a little more than 20 will go to the BJP and the rest will be divided between Sena and NCP. Shinde's share will be more than Pawar's.

Fadnavis said on Thursday that the cabinet will be expanded before the winter session, which begins in Nagpur on December 16, and there will be no major swap when portfolios are distributed. Insiders said the expansion will likely occur in the middle of the second week of this month so that the new ministers get the hang of their portfolios and the bureaucracy handling them.