Maharashtra Cabinet expansion likely on July 20

The Maharashtra cabinet expansion led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde is likely to be held on July 20, sources told India Today.

The much-awaited expansion of the Maharashtra cabinet led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde is likely to be held on July 20, sources told India Today. The cabinet expansion of Ekanth Shinde and Devendra Fadnavis is likely to be held after the presidential poll which will be held on July 18.

Sources told India Today TV that 10-12 ministers from the BJP and Eknath Shinde's factions will take oath in the first phase and others will take oath after the monsoon session.

The monsoon session is likely to begin from July 25 and swearing in of ministers and allocation of portfolios will be done before the session for the smooth functioning of the session.

At present, CM Eknath Shinde and deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis of the BJP are the only members of the cabinet. Shinde faction’s spokesperson, Deepak Kesarkar, had said that there is no difficulty in cabinet expansion.

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Earlier in the day, Eknath Shinde-led government in Maharashtra gave a cabinet approval to rename Aurangabad and Osmanabad cities as Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Dharashiv respectively.

Shinde and Fadnavis last week visited New Delhi and met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president J P Nadda. Deliberations on cabinet expansion in Maharashtra were believed to have taken place with the BJP’s top brass during the visit.