Maharashtra cabinet expansion: ZERO women sworn in as ministers; NCP MP Supriya Sule lashes out

NCP MP Supriya Sule slammed the Maharashtra cabinet expansion which took place on Tuesday as no women MLAs were sworn in as ministers.

Pic Credit: ANI, File Photo

New Delhi: The Maharashtra cabinet expansion of CM Eknath Shinde's two-member ministry took place on Tuesday (Aug 9) where 18 ministers were inducted. The cabinet expansion saw 9 MLAs each from BJP Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction taking oath as ministers in a grand ceremony at Mumbai's Raj Bhavan. However, there were no women ministers inducted into the cabinet which irked many women activists and politicians.

NCP MP Supriya Sule criticised the Maharashtra cabinet expansion for the absence of representation of women. As quoted by ANI, she said, "Maharashtra was the first state in the country to give reservation for women. Unfortunate that there're 18 ministers in state Cabinet, when 50% of the population in the country is of women but they're not represented in this cabinet. It shows BJP's mindset."

Maharashtra was the first state in the country to give reservation for women. Unfortunate that there're 18 ministers in state Cabinet, when 50% of the population in the country is of women but they're not represented in this cabinet. It shows BJP's mindset: NCP MP Supriya Sule pic.twitter.com/9Rq9AuUtBO — ANI (@ANI) August 9, 2022

For the unversed, Maharashtra governor B S Koshyari administered the oath of office to the ministers. 

The BJP MLAs who got the cabinet berths include - Chandrakant Patil, Sudhir Mungantiwar, Girish Mahajan, Suresh Khade, Radha Krishna Vikhe Patil, Ravindra Chavhan, Mangal Prabhat Lodha, Vijaykumar Gavit, and Atul Save. 

The rebel Shiv Sena leaders who have been inducted are Dada Bhuse, Shambhuraje Desai, Sandeepan Bhumre, Uday Samant, Tanaji Sawant, Abdul Sattar, Deepak Kesarkar, Gulabrao Patil, and Sanjay Rathod.

According to a close aide of Shinde, there will be another ministry expansion later. The much-awaited Maharashtra cabinet expansion took place 41 days after Eknath Shinde took oath as the Chief Minister and Devendra Fadnavis took oath as Deputy Chief Minister.