Newly-inducted NCP cabinet minister Bhujbal gets food and civil supplies portfolio

Mumbai: Four days after his induction into the Devendra Fadnavis-led cabinet in Maharashtra, senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal was on Friday allocated the food and civil supplies portfolio, a department held by him earlier also.

Bhujbal (77), a prominent OBC leader, confirmed he has been assigned the food and civil supplies department in the BJP-led Mahayuti government.

The department was without a minister after NCP leader Dhananjay Munde, who helmed it, resigned in March this year.

The multiple-time MLA from Yeola in Nashik district was sworn-in as a minister on May 20, marking his return to the cabinet after being overlooked during its first expansion in December last year.

A political heavyweight in Maharashtra, Bhujbal had been sulking after he did not get a ministerial berth when Chief Minister Fadnavis expanded his cabinet.

In the Mahayuti 1.0 government headed by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Bhujbal was the food and civil supplies minister and he held the same portfolio when the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) administration led by Uddhav Thackeray was in office (2019-22).