MUMBAI: After 16 days of state assembly poll results, and after much haggling over the distribution of portfolios between the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress, Maharashtra Governor S.C. Jamir on Saturday sworn in the 36 members of the Congress-NCP-led Democratic Front government in Maharashtra for the third time.
The governor administrated oath of office and secrecy to 16 Congress ministers and 20 NCP ministers at the Governor's House in Mumbai. As per the agreement reached between the Congress and NCP, both will share the ministerial berths on a 23-20 basis. Since only 16 ministers from the Congress have taken oath, the remaining seven ministers would be sworn in later, said Chief Minister Ashok Chavan. The NCP has completed its quota of 20 ministers.
There are four Muslims on the list of ministers. The two from Congress are Naseem Khan from Mumbai and Abdul Sattar from Silod. The two ministers from the NCP quota are Hassan Mushrif from Kagal in Kolhapur district and Fawzia Khan from Parbhani in Marathwada region.
Three former ministers from the NCP -- Chandrakant Handore, Nawab Malik and Dr. Vimla Mundada -- were dropped. R.R. Patil, NCP state president and former deputy chief minister and home minister, who resigned accepting moral responsibility for the Mumbai terror attack last year, has been included in the new government. Sources said he might be given the home portfolio again.
The surprise element was the missing name of Dilip Walse-Patil from Pune, senior powerful NCP leader and former finance minister, and instead a scheduled caste legislator Ramesh Bhagve was included in the ministry. A senior NCP leader speaking on the omission of Patil's name said he would be given some important assignment in the party.
In a well-planned strategy, the Congress-NCP alliance kept the list of the new ministers under wrap and avoided announcing the distribution of portfolios. A Congress leader told Arab News this was done to avoid a revolt by new ministers over them not getting plum portfolios.
