BJP's Pankaja Munde, Nitesh Rane inducted as Maharashtra ministers

Bharatiya Janata Party leaders Pankaja Munde and Nitesh Rane were among 39 legislators inducted into Maharashtra’s new Council of Ministers on Sunday.

Other BJP leaders who were sworn-in as ministers included the party’s state unit chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule, former Leader of Opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, Chandrakant Patil, Mangal Prabhat Lodha and Ashish Shelar.

Hasan Mushrif, Dhananjay Munde, Aditi Tatkare and Narhari Zirwal were among leaders from the Ajit Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party faction who took oath.

Gulabrao Patil, Uday Samant and Sanjay Shirsat were among leaders from the Eknath Shinde-led faction of the Shiv Sena who were sworn-in as ministers.

Among the ministers sworn-in on Sunday, 19 were from the BJP, 11 from the Shinde Sena and nine from Ajit Pawar’s NCP faction.

The allocation of ministerial portfolios was not immediately clear.

The ministers were administered the oath of office by Governor CP Radhakrishnan in Nagpur, where the Legislative Assembly will convene for the Winter Session on Monday.

Munde, currently a Member of Legislative Council, was a state minister between 2014 and 2019.

, the son of Union minister Narayan Rane, has been an MLA from Kankavli since 2014. He is relating to .

Former Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal and former state home minister Dilip Walse Patil were not inducted into the Council of Ministers. Both leaders,...