The Hindu : National : Shinde drops 22 Ministers

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jul 07, 2004

National

National

Shinde drops 22 Ministers

By Our Special Correspondent

MUMBAI, JULY 6. The Maharashtra Chief Minister, Sushilkumar Shinde, today dropped 22 Ministers, including four of Cabinet rank — two each from the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party — from his coalition Government to comply with the recent Constitutional Amendment that restricted the size of a Ministry to 15 per cent of the strength of the Assembly. The exercise reduces the number of Ministers to 43 from 65. In an effort to cushion the impact of what he described at a press conference here as "an unpleasant task," Mr. Shinde elevated five Ministers of State — three from the NCP and two from the Congress to Cabinet rank.

Earlier, the Chief Minister met the Governor, Mohammed Fazal, to submit the resignations,to downsize his Cabinet.

Of the 18 Ministers of State dropped, six each are from the Congress and the NCP and the remaining six are independents — three supporters of the Congress and three of the NCP.

The dropped Cabinet Ministers are the Revenue Minister, Shivajirao Nilangekar-Patil and the Water Conservation Minister, Babasaheb Dhabekar (Congress) the Health Minister, Digvijay Khanvilkar, and the EnergyMinister, DilipValse-Patil, (NCP).

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National