Grand welcome for CM in Nagpur

Maharashtra's new chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday received a grand welcome during his first visit to his home turf, Nagpur, after assuming office, signalling his emergence as the undisputed leader of the BJP in the state.

- Surendra P Gangan and Faisal Malik

NAGPUR/MUMBAI: Ten days after chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and his deputies, Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar, were sworn in on December 15 in Mumbai, 39 legislators from the three ruling parties took oath as ministers and ministers of state at Raj Bhavan in Nagpur on Sunday.

The BJP inducted 19 MLAs, while the Shiv Sena and NCP brought in 11 and nine respectively. Of the total 39, 33 are cabinet ministers and six are ministers of state. Key BJP inductees include Chandrashekhar Bawankule, Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, Pankaja Munde, Ashish Shelar, Ganesh Naik, Mangal Prabhat Lodha and Nitesh Rane, along with two women ministers of state, Madhuri Misal and Meghana Bordikar.

The Shiv Sena's lineup features Uday Samant, Shambhuraj Desai, Bharat Gogawale and Sanjay Shirsat, with Ashish Jaiswal and Yogesh Kadam as ministers of state. The NCP inducted Hasan Mushrif, Dhananjay Munde, Aditi Tatkare and Narhari Zirwal, with Indraneel Naik as minister of state.

Twelve ministers from the previous government's 29 were dropped. The BJP removed senior leaders Sudhir Mungantiwar, Ravindra Chavan, Vijaykumar Gavit and Suresh Khade. The Shiv Sena dropped Tanaji Sawant, Deepak Kesarkar and Abdul Sattar - Sawant and Sattar faced corruption charges, and the BJP had insisted on their exclusion.