Chandrakant Patil Maharashtra's new higher education minister; Shiv Sena's Dadaji Bhuse gets school

NAGPUR: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday allocated portfolios to his council of ministers, retaining the crucial Home department with him. Fadnavis will also handle Energy, Law and Judiciary, General Administration Department and Information and Publicity departments, an official statement said here. Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has been allocated Urban Development, Housing and Public Works Department (public enterprises). Ajit Pawar, another deputy CM, got Finance and Planning, State Excise.

The portfolios were allocated after the weeklong winter session of the state Legislature ended here earlier in the day. As many as 39 ministers had been sworn in on December 15, before the start of the session, while Fadnavis and his two deputies had taken the oath of office on December 5. The Mahayuti alliance of the BJP, NCP and Shiv Sena swept the November 20 assembly elections, winning 230 of 288 seats. Portfolios allocated to BJP ministers are -- Chandrashekhar Bawankule (Revenue), Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil (Water Resources- Krishna and Godavari Valley Development corporation), Chandrakant Patil (Higher and Technical Education, Parliamentary affairs), Girish Mahajan (Water Resources- Vidarbha , Tapi, Konkan Development Corporation and Disaster Management).

Ganesh Naik has been given Forests, Mangal Prabhat Lodha Skill Development, Employment, Entrepreneurship and Innovation; Jaykumar Raval Marketing and Protocol, Pankaja Munde Environment and Climate Change, Animal Husbandry; Atul Save OBC Welfare, Dairy Development and Renewable Energy. Ashok Uike has been given Tribal Development, Ashish Shelar Cultural Affairs and Information Technology, Shivendrasinh Bhosale Public Works.

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Jaykumar Gore has been given Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Sanjay Savkare Textiles, Nitesh Rane Fisheries and Ports, Akash Fundkar Labour. Shiv Sena Ministers' portfolios: Gulabrao Patil Water Supply and Sanitation, Dadaji Bhuse School Education, Sanjay Rathod Soil and Water Conservation, Uday Samant Industries and Marathi language, Shambhuraj Desai Tourism, Mining, Ex-servicemen Welfare, Sanjay Shirsat Social Justice, Pratap Sarnaik Transport, Bharat Gogawale Employment Guarantee, Horticulture, Salt Pan Lands Development; Prakash Abitkar Public Health and Family Welfare.

Medical, school education

NCP ministers' portfolios: Hasan Mushrif Medical Education, Dhananjay Munde Food and Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection, Dattatrey Bharne Sports ,Youth welfare and Minority Development and Aukaf, Aditi Tatkare Women and Child Development , Manikrao Kokate Agriculture. Narhari Zirwal has been given Food and Drug Administration, Special assistance. Makrand Patil has been given Relief and Rehabilitation, while Babasaheb Patil was allocated Cooperation. Among Ministers of States, Shiv Sena's Ashish Jaiswal has been given Finance and Planning, Agriculture, Relief and Rehabilitation, Law and Judiciary and Labour.

BJP's Madhuri Misal has been given Urban Development, Transport, Social Justice, Medical Education, Minorities Development and Aukaf. Pankaj Bhoyar, also of BJP has got Home (Rural), Housing, School Education, Cooperation and Mining. BJP 's Meghana Bordikar has got Public Health and Family Welfare, Water Supply and Sanitation, Energy, Women and Child Development, Public Works (Public Enterprises).