Maha cabinet wears a 'new' look

CM Fadnavis drops 9 old faces from BJP, Shinde eases out 6 and Ajit Pawar ignores 5

- SUDHIR SURYAWANSHI @ Mumbai

IN his third term as the Maharashtra chief minister, Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday chose a new and young team to govern the state for the next five years.

In the cabinet expansion, Fadnavis dropped nine old faces from his own party who were part of the earlier Eknath Shinde government.

Deputy CM Shinde dropped six old faces from Shiv Sena and deputy CM Ajit Pawar denied opportunity to five old faces from NCP in the new cabinet.

The BJP got 20 berths -- 17 cabinet ministries and three ministers of state.

The Shiv Sena got 12 berths -- 10 of cabinet rank and two MoS -- and NCP 10 -- nine cabinet ministers and one MoS.

The young faces sworn in as ministers from the BJP are Jaykumar Rawal, Pankaja Munde, Ashok Uike, Ashish Shelar, Shivendrasinh Bhosale, Jaykumar Gore, Sanjay Savkare, Nitesh Rane, Akash Fundkar, Madhuri Misal, Pankaj Bhoyar, and Meghna Bordikar Sakore.