Mix of old and new, heavyweights and debutantes: Maharashtra gets 39 new ministers

Nagpur: Following is the brief profile of some of the ministers who were inducted into the Devendra Fadnavis government in Maharashtra on Sunday.

Chandrashekhar Bawankule: The Maharashtra BJP president won from Kamthi seat in Nagpur in the 2024 assembly polls after being denied a ticket in 2019. He was, however, rehabilitated as MLC and was later made the party’s state unit chief in August 2022. Bawankule has been associated with the BJP for the past 30 years. He was power minister in the Devendra Fadnavis-led BJP-Shiv Sena government between 2014 and 2019.

Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil is an 8-term MLA from Shirdi in Ahilyanagar district who also served as minister in the first Shiv Sena-BJP government in the state in 1995 as well as the Congress-NCP dispensations from 1999 to 2014. He joined the BJP in 2014.

Chandrakant Patil is a two-time MLA from Kothrud in Pune and was earlier an MLC. Patil, who hails from Kolhapur, is close to Union minister Amit Shah and was a minister in the Devendra Fadnavis government between 2014 to 2019.

Mangal Prabhat Lodha is a 7-time MLA from Malabar Hill in Mumbai. He became minister for the first time in 2022 and also served as guardian minister of Mumbai suburban district as well the chief of the party’s Mumbai unit.

Girish Mahajan (64) is a 7-time MLA from Jamner in Jalgaon district and served as minister between 2014-19 in the Fadnavis government and 2022-24 under Eknath Shinde. He is considered close to Chief Minister Fadnavis.

Fifty-two-year-old Ashish Shelar is a three-term MLA from Vandre West in Mumbai. He is a former corporator, BCCI treasurer and current Mumbai BJP chief.

Ganesh Naik (74) is a former Shiv Sainik who switched to NCP and then to BJP in 2014. He served as minister in the Congress-NCP governments between 1999 to 2014. He represents the Airoli assembly constituency in Navi Mumbai.

Seventy-year-old Hasan Mushrif of the NCP is six-time MLA from Kagal assembly in Kolhapur district. He allied with Ajit Pawar when the NCP split in July last year. Mushrif was booked in a money-laundering case and was raided by Enforcement Directorate and Central Bureau of Investigation before he joined the ruling alliance. Despite opposition stalwart Sharad Pawar’s concerted efforts to defeat him, he managed to retain his seat in 2024.

Debutante minister Madhuri Misal is a 4-time MLA from Parvati assembly constituency in Pune.

Meghana Bordikar is a two-time BJP MLA from Jintur in Parbhani district.

Pankaja Munde is an MLC who lost the 2024 Lok Sabha polls from Beed.

Sanjay Savkare, who was sworn in as cabinet minister on Sunday, represents Bhusawal. He joined BJP in 2014 from the NCP. Savkare was assistant to former MLA Santosh Chaudhari before entering politics.

Yogesh Kadam (38) is a two-time MLA from Dapoli assembly seat in the state’s Konkan region and is son of senior Shiv Sena leader and former state minister Ramdas Kadam.

NCP MLA Narhari Zirwal from Dindori, who took oath as cabinet minister, is a confidante of Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar. Zirwal was deputy speaker in the assembly whose term ended on November 26.

Nitesh Rane is son of former CM and Union minister Narayan Rane and is 3-time MLA from kankavli. He contested polls as a Congress candidate for the first time in 2014 and joined the BJP in 2019.

Akash Fundkar is a 3-time MLA from Khamgaon and is son of former state BJP chief late Pandurang Fundkar.