Shinde govt cabinet expansion in Maha as 18 ministers take oath
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Mumbai,: Eighteen ministers were inducted into the Shinde government of which the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shinde faction have nine ministers each. On Tuesday, 18 MLAs took oath as ministers in the Durbar Hall of Raj Bhavan as Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari administered the oath of office and secrecy to them. Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, Sudhir Mungantiwar, Chandrakant Patil, Vijaykumar Gavit, Girish Mahajan, Suresh Khade, Ravindra Chavan, Atul Save, Mangalprabhat Lodha have taken oath as ministers on behalf of the BJP in a simple swearing-in ceremony.
Similarly, MLAs Gulabrao Patil, Dada Bhuse, Sanjay Rathod, Sandipan Bhumre, Uday Samant, Tanaji Sawant, Abdul Sattar, Deepak Kesarkar, Shambhuraj Desai have become ministers from Shinde faction. All of them have been sworn in as cabinet ministers. In the first cabinet expansion, no independent MLA has got a chance to become a minister.
Chief Minister Eknath Shinde told reporters after taking oath that a double engine government has been established in Maharashtra. Today the first cabinet expansion of this government has taken place. Very soon the next expansion of this government will take place and the rest of the people will be given ministerial posts. Now this government will work for the common people. On this occasion, Leader of the Opposition Ajit Pawar, union Minister of State for Railways Raosaheb Danve, union Minister Ramdas Athawale, BJP National General Secretary Vinod Tawde were present on the occasion
