MUMBAI: While the inclusion of Sanjay Rathod and Abdul Sattar in the new cabinet sparked a debate, the Sena list included aggressive Jalgaon MLA Gulabrao Patil, who was water supply and sanitation minister in the MVA government, Dada Bhuse, who was agriculture minister, Sandipan Bhumre who was horticulture minister, Uday Samant, who was higher and technical education minister, and Shambhuraj Desai, who was minister of state for home. Also Tanaji Sawant, who has worked as water conservation minister. The Shinde faction’s spokesperson and former minister of state for finance Deepak Kesarkar was also included.
The cabinet expansion also tried to balance caste equations. While Rathod belongs to the Banjara community, Khade is a Dalit and Mungantiwar belongs to the Komti (OBC) community.
