Mumbai: Weeks after squabbling over allocation of portfolios, the Shiv Sena finally joined the BJP-led government in Maharashtra on Friday when Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis expanded his 34-day-old cabinet.
As per reports, ten cabinet ministers, five each from Shiv Sena and BJP, were today inducted in the Devendra Fadnavis ministry in Maharashtra.
The expansion of Devendra Fadnavis government was done ahead of the crucial Winter Session which is scheduled to begin in Nagpur on December 8.
Prominent among those who took oath are Shiv Sena MLAs Dadaji Dagdu Ghuse, Dr Deepak Ramchandra Sawant, Eknath Shinde, Ramdas Kadam, Uddhav Thackeray's trusted aide Subhash Desai, Divakar Raute, Girish Mahajan, Girish Bapat.
This is the first instance in Maharashtra where an opposition party has joined the ruling party in an alliance government. The cabinet expansion ceremony held at Vidhan Bhawan.
After the ministry expansion, Shiv Sena has formally become part of the BJP-led state government. After the cabinet reshuffle, the Fadnavis government is no longer in minority in the state assembly and now has a strength of 184 in the 287-member Assembly (one BJP legislator died soon after the poll results were announced in October).
The BJP has a strength of 121 legislators and the Shiv Sena 63.
Not just Sena's participation in the government but overall alliance between BJP and Shiv Sena have been revived as Fadnavis also yesterday announced the formation of a co-ordination committee which will decide how to co-operate in the upcoming municipal elections in Maharashtra.
Hoping that the Shiv Sena will sooner or later join the government, BJP had kept a sizeable berths vacant, which will now include twelve Sena ministers and another 8-10 ministers from the BJP soon after the cabinet expansion procedure is over.
On the other hand, Shiv Sena leader Subhash Desai had said that the two parties had decided to come together again and run a stable government in the state as per the mandate of the people.
However, Shiv Sena was denied the post of deputy chief minister since CM had announced that there will be no such post in his government. Notably, in the first BJP-Shiv Sena alliance government in 1995-99, the Sena held the post of chief minister and the BJP had the deputy chief minister's post.
The two parties - allies for 25 years - split on September 25 after a bitter spat and fought the assembly elections separately. "The people voted against the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (alliance). Our decision has been taken respecting the public sentiments in this context, and we have decided to form the alliance government," Fadnavis said, putting the lid on over two months of speculation whether the two parties would unite.
Desai added: "We will strive to provide a good government and are confident that we will live up to the people's mandate." According to reports, the expansion will bring relief to the government as it readies for its first full-fledged winter session of the legislature that starts Monday in Nagpur, the state's second capital. Another expansion is also likely on cards after the Winter Session in Nagpur.
A decision on including other smaller alliance partners in the cabinet would be taken in due course, Fadnavis said. Political analysts say the Shiv Sena's decision was prompted largely by apprehensions that the party could split if it continued in the opposition, with the splinter group joining the BJP. Thursday's development took place after over two months of aggressive positions by leaders from both sides even as back-channel talks continued quietly.
(With Agency inputs)
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