Maharashtra Cabinet expansion: BJP likely to offer Shiv Sena Deputy CM's post

The Bharatiya Janata Party is likely to offer the post of deputy chief minister to ally Shiv Sena in the upcoming cabinet expansion done by Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis before the assembly session.

Sources told India Today TV that senior Sena minister Subhash Desai is likely to be made the deputy chief minister if party chief Uddhav Thackeray accepts the proposition.

According to sources, Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, the Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Legislative Assembly who is likely to join BJP will be a part of the cabinet. Former NCP minister Jaydutt Kshirsagar, who joined Shiv Sena, is likely to be part of the cabinet expansion as well.

On Tuesday, Minister for Finance and Planning in the Maharashtra government Sudhir Mungantiwar said that cabinet expansion will be done by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis before the assembly session. "Devendra Fadnavis has decided that Maharashtra Cabinet expansion will be done before the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly Session, soon all will hear the good news. The expectations of Shiv Sena and other allies will be met," Sudhir Mungantiwar was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

Earlier, it was reported that the BJP and ally Shiv Sena would arrive at a seat-sharing agreement soon for the state polls due in September-October.

The Shiv Sena and the BJP had contested the 2014 assembly polls separately, but the Uddhav Thackeray-led party joined the government later.

Of the total 288 seats, the BJP had won 122 and emerged as the single largest party.

The Maharashtra-centric Sena, which ruled the state for four years in alliance with the BJP in the 1990s, came a distant second with 63 seats.

Devendra Fadnavis became the first BJP chief minister of Maharashtra in October 2014.