Though the Shiv Sena is the second largest constituent of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), with 18 MPs in the Lok Sabha, it has been offered only one ministry in the Union Cabinet.
Sena’s Arvind Sawant was among the seven ministers from Maharashtra who took the oath of office on Thursday. However, on Friday, he was given the Heavy Industries and Public Enterprise Ministry, which has been handed to the party since the first NDA government led by late Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 1996. The late Balasaheb Vikhe-Patil, Manohar Joshi, Subodh Mohite, Suresh Prabhu, Anant Geete and Arvind Sawant have all handled this portfolio in successive NDA governments.
With the State Assembly polls just four months away and the BJP-Sena alliance expected to continue, the party was tipped to get more than one ministry. However, keeping with tradition, the Sena was offered the same lone portfolio.
Cabinet Ministers from Maharashtra include Nagpur MP Nitin Gadkari, who continues as Minister for Road Transport and Highways and has also been given charge of the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises. Prakash Javadekar has been given the ministries of Information and Broadcasting and Environment, Forests and Climate Change. Piyush Goyal has been given the Commerce and Industry Ministry in addition to his old charge of Railways.
Among the Ministers of State from Maharashtra are State BJP chief Raosaheb Danve (Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution), Ramdas Athawale (Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment), and Sanjay Dhotre (Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Communications, and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology).