Ajit Pawar’s NCP gets seven portfolios in cabinet including finance in Maharashtra

Ajit Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) won finance and six other ministries to expand the cabinet in the newly formed coalition government in Maharashtra.

The development comes roughly two weeks after Ajit Pawar and eight NCP MLAs joined the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government.

Ajit Pawar's party got the departments of finance and planning, food and civil supplies, cooperatives, women and child development, agriculture, relief and rehabilitation, and medical education as part of the cabinet expansion.

Ajit Pawar, Deputy Chief Minister, said the list of portfolio allocations has been forwarded to the Governor for his approval.

To finalize and present the portfolio distribution list, officials from the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) reached Raj Bhavan, the office of the Governor, today. The list will be sent to the Secretary-General for further action after approval by the Governor.

Besides the chief minister and two deputy chief ministers, the Maharashtra cabinet now has nine members from the BJP, nine from the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, and nine from the NCP. It can consist of a maximum of 43 people.

Ajit Pawar, who campaigned for key ministries for his party members during meetings with Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, scored a major victory as the NCP bagged the lucrative finance portfolio.