Maharashtra cabinet expansion: NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal inducted as minister

Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday expanded his five month-old cabinet, with the induction of NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal as a minister.

Bhujbal, 77, was sworn in by Maharashtra Governor C P Radhakrishnan at Raj Bhavan.

Bhujbal, who has had a distinguished and eventful political career spanning several decades, was not included when Fadnavis first expanded his cabinet in December last year.

At the time, his exclusion from the cabinet had drawn public disappointment from the seasoned leader, a prominent OBC face in the state.

His inclusion in the cabinet follows the resignation of Dhananjay Munde, a fellow NCP heavyweight who stepped down as the food, civil supplies and consumer protection minister in March after the arrest of his close aide Walmik Karad in sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh murder case.