"Portfolio List With Governor, Approval Awaited": Maharashtra Minister

The list of portfolios to be given to the new ministers of the Maharashtra government has been sent to the Governor, Nationalist Congress Party leader Jayant Patil said on Saturday. "According to my information, the list of portfolios was given to governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari at 7:30 pm this evening. I hope the governor gives his approval soon," Mr Patil tweeted.

The Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government is facing criticism from the opposition BJP for delay in allocating portfolios despite being in power for over a month now.

Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party -- which played a key role in bringing together the ideologically disparate Shiv Sena and the Congress and helped government formation in Maharashtra -- emerged as the biggest winner with most of the state's key cabinet berths.

The party is expected to get the home, finance, irrigation and housing ministries. The post of the deputy Chief Minister also belongs to the party. In terms of numbers too, they have the edge over the Shiv Sena, with 16 berths compared to the Sena's 15.

On Thursday, sources said the NCP's Anil Deshmukh will get the crucial home portfolio, urban development will go to Shiv Sena's Eknath Shinde, Industries to Sena's Subhash Desai, Revenue to Congress's Balasaheb Thorat, Labour and Excise to NCP's Dilip Walse Patil, Housing to NCP's Jeetendra Ahwad and Medical Education to Congress's Varsha Gaikwad.

NCP's Dhananjay Munde is likely to get the Ministry of Social Justice. Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar is expected to get the plum finance portfolio, the sources said.

It is not known yet which portfolios Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray would handle, apart from the General Administration department.

The Congress is getting the least number of berths and ministries as it is the smallest party in the alliance in terms of the number of MLAs. The party won 44 of the state's 288 seats, against Shiv Sena's 56 and NCP's 54 seats.

The key revenue portfolio has been earmarked for its state chief Balasaheb Thorat, PWD for former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan and Medical Education for Varsha Gaikwad, but there rest are yet to be decided.

With Revenue department in the bag, the party is angling for agriculture, which Sena is unlikely to concede. The party is likely to get the power department as well, sources said.

Sources said the delay in finalisation and announcement of porfolios is mainly due to the difficulty of assigning districts to individual ministers for special care.

With inputs from PTI