There is a possibility that the oath-taking ceremony and expansion of the Maharashtra cabinet will take place in Nagpur on Sunday, December 15, instead of Saturday, December 14 at the Raj Bhavan in Mumbai as was previously announced, sources said. However, there has not been an official announcement to this effect so far.
As per the announced schedule, the winter session of the Maharashtra assembly is set to begin on Monday, December 16 in Nagpur, which is Maharashtra’s winter capital. A last-minute shifting of the oath-taking event to Nagpur cannot be ruled out, sources said.
As things stand, the official position continues to be that the cabinet expansion and oath-taking ceremony will happen in Mumbai on December 14 as scheduled. However, if at all, the venue for the cabinet expansion and swearing-in ceremony is shifted to Nagpur from the Raj Bhavan (Governor’s House) in Mumbai, this would be the first time that such a thing has ever happened in the state of Maharashtra.
While “convenience of MLAs” is being cited as the reason for this likely departure from a decades-old well-established protocol, the real reason is the unresolved ministerial portfolio allocation as well as the internal political slugfest within the Mahayuti parties regarding ministerial portfolio allocation, sources said.
Sources said the tussle over ministerial posts is still going on in the Mahayuti and it might take more time than expected before a ministerial portfolio-sharing formula acceptable to all BJP-led Mahayuti parties emerges, especially given Deputy CM Shinde’s demands and the BJP’s reluctance to accommodate his demands.