Nagpur, Dec 16 (IANS): At least 12 Cabinet ministers from the previous Eknath Shinde-led council of ministers in Maharashtra have not found ministerial berths in Cabinet expansion by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Those who did not find place in the cabinet include Sudhir Mungantiwar, Ravindra Chavan, Vijaykumar Gavit and Suresh Khadse (BJP), Chhagan Bhujbal, Dilip Walse Patil, Dharmaraobaba Atram, Anil Patil and Sanjay Bansode (NCP) and Tanaji Sawant, Abdul Sattar and Deepak Kesarkar (Shiv Sena).

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that the audit of each minister would be done, adding that those who have been denied the ministerial berths from the BJP was because they would be assigned different responsibilities.

“Some ministers have been dropped due to their performance in the Eknath Shinde-led Cabinet. As far as the induction of aspirants from Shiv Sena and NCP is concerned, it was not possible due to various reasons. They may get an opportunity in the future. Still, one ministerial post is kept vacant,” he added.

However, 25 new faces have found a place in Cabinet expansion including Chandrashekhar Bawankule, Ganesh Naik, Jaykumar Rawal, Pankaja Munde, Ashok Uike, Ashish Shelar, Dattatreya Bharne, Shivendraraje Bhosale, Manikrao Kokate, Jaykumar Gore, Narhari Jirwal, Sanjay Savkare, Sanjay Shirsat, Pratap Sarnaik, Bharat Gogavale, Makarand Patil, Nitesh Rane, Akash Fundkar, Babasaheb Patil, Prakash Abitkar, Madhuri Misal, Ashish Jaiswal, Pankaj Bhoyar, Meghna Bordikar, Indranil Naik.

Of the 39 ministers who took the oath, four women legislators have been inducted including Pankaja Munde, who had worked as the minister of woman and child welfare in the Devendra Fadnavis-led Cabinet between 2014 and 2019, Madhuri Misal and Meghana Bordikar (BJP) and Aditi Tatkare (NCP), who as the minister of woman and child welfare was involved in the implementation of the flagship Ladki Bahin Yojana ahead of the state assembly election.

However, none of the women legislators from the Shiv Sena has been inducted in today’s expansion.

Meanwhile, BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP have devised a two-and-a-half-year formula for ministers who were inducted in the council of ministers today.

Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said that the MahaYuti partners have agreed to this formula so that they can induct new faces after two and half years in the Cabinet.