Nagpur/Mumbai: The much awaited and talked allocation of portfolios to MVA ministers will now be done on Monday, January 6, according to media reports.
According to reports, internal tussle is going on among the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance partners — Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP – to grab plum portfolios. The Maharashtra Cabinet was finally expanded on December 30 after a month-long delay. NCP emerged as the biggest winner with 16 ministerial berths while Shiv Sena closely followed with 15 berths to its name.
Their third alliance partner Congress was handed 12 berths. Congress got the least number of berths and ministries as it is the smallest party in the alliance in terms of the number of MLAs. The grand old party won 44 seats while Shiv Sena secured 56 and NCP got 54 seats in the recently-held Maharashtra Assembly elections for 288 seats.
According to reports, the NCP is likely to get the Home, Finance, Irrigation and Housing ministries. The party has already bagged the Deputy Chief Minister post. Reports suggest that more names have emerged in the ongoing discussions over portfolios and it is the sole reason behind the delay in portfolio allocation.
NCP’s Anil Deshmukh is likely to get the crucial Home portfolio, Urban Development may go to Shiv Sena’s Eknath Shinde, Industries to Sena’s Subhash Desai and Revenue to Congress’ Balasaheb Thorat. The Labour and Excise is expected to be handed to NCP’s Dilip Walse Patil, Housing to NCP’s Jitendra Ahwad and Medical Education to Congress’s Varsha Gaikwad. NCP’s Dhananjay Munde is expected to get the Ministry of Social Justice while Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar will get the Finance portfolio.
