Maharashtra cabinet expansion after 40 days, 18 MLAs take oath

Mumbai: Maharashtra on Tuesday finally saw a cabinet expansion, almost 40 days after Shiv Sena rebel Eknath Shinde took office after triggering a revolt that ousted Chief Minister Udhav Thackeray.

Nine MLAs from Shinde's group and nine from its ally the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took oath. All took oath as Cabinet Ministers.

The Cabinet will have a total of 20 Ministers including Chief Minister Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Those who took oath included Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, who joined the BJP from the Congress, Sudhir Mungantiwar, Chandrakant Patil, Vijaykumar Gavit, Girish Mahajan, Gulabrao Patil from Shinde group, Dada Bhuse, Sanjay Rathod, Suresh Khade, Sandipan Bhumre, Uday Samant, Tanaji Sawant, Ravindra Chavan, Abdul Sattar, Deepak Kesarkar, Atul Save, Shambhuraj. Desai, Mangalprabhat Lodha and others.

Leader of Opposition Ajit Pawar, Union Minister of State for Railways Raosaheb Danve, Union Minister Ramdas Athawale and BJP National General Secretary Vinod Tawde were present at this swearing-in ceremony. (UNI)