Maha portfolios out, BJP keeps key depts

Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis retained the home ministry and deputy chief ministers Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar got the charge of urban development and finance departments respectively as the ruling Mahayuti partners finalised portfolio allocation after days of parleys and negotiations.

- Surendra P Gangan and Shailesh Gaikwad

According to an official release from the state government on Saturday, Fadnavis will also hold general administration, apart from retaining law and judiciary, and energy (excluding renewable energy) departments. Fadnavis held these portfolios during his stint as the deputy chief minister in the earlier Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) coalition government.

Apart from urban development, a department he held during his tenure as the CM, Shinde also got the housing department, apart from public works department (public enterprise) — i.e., the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation or MSRDC which is building key infra projects.

Among the key departments, the BJP has retained home, energy, revenue, public works, water resources (irrigation), rural development, and tribal development, with the home portfolio long regarded as a particular point of contention between the Sena and the BJP.