The swearing-in ceremony of the Mahayuti cabinet is underway in Nagpur in the presence of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy Chief Ministers Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar. Reportedly, 39 MLAs are being sworn in as ministers 

Many Shiv Sena and NCP MLAs are set to be inducted into the council of ministers, reflecting the alliance’s push to finalise its governance team. Reports stated that while 20 MLAs from the BJP are set to become ministers, the party is likely to keep some ministerial positions vacant. Furthermore, 13 MLAs from the Shiv Sena quota and 10 from the NCP quota are being sworn in. The list of portfolios is likely to be announced by tonight after the searing-in ceremony. 

Notably, BJP’s state president Chandrashekhar Bawankule was the first to be sworn in as cabinet minister. Another BJP candidate who took oath as a minister was Radhakrishna Vikhepatil, who was earlier with the Shinde party as a revenue minister.

Beside the aforesaid BJP leaders, Girish Mahajan, Ganesh Naik, Chandrakant Patil, Mangalprabhat Lodha, Jaykumar Rawal, Pankaja Munde, Atul Save, Ashok Uike, Ashish Shelar, Sanjay Savkare, Jaykumar Gore, Shivendra Raje Bhosale, Ashish Shelar will take oath as ministers.

From SHIV SENA, Gulabrao Patil, Dada Bhuse, Sanjay Rathod, Uday Samant, Shambhuraj Desai, Sanjay Shirsat, Pratap Sarnaik, Bharatshet Gogawale will be sworn-in as ministers. NCP leaders Hasan Mushrif, Dhananjay Munde, Dattatray Bharne, Narhari Jhirwal, Manikrao Kokate, Aditi Sunil Tatkare will also take oath as ministers.

Reportedly, the BJP, which holds a significant share of cabinet berths, is expected to bring in new faces during the expansion. Furthermore, the BJP is likely to hand over the housing ministry to the Shiv Sena in the Maharashtra cabinet expansion while retaining the home ministry.

Reports said that both Shiv Sena and NCP are expected to keep the portfolios they held in the previous Mahayuti government, with the Shiv Sena gaining one additional ministry.

Additionally, the BJP is likely to retain major departments like revenue, education, power and irrigation. NCP is likely to keep the finance, cooperative, agriculture and sports portfolios.

Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju slammed Congress General Secretary and Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra for calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech in the Parliament boring. The Union Minister said that Priyanka Gandhi made such remarks as she is new to the Parliament, and she did not understand the Prime Minister’s vision. 

Reacting to the PM’s 100 minute speech, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra compared it to a double period of Mathematics in school, mentioning it to be unengaging and lacked novelty. She further remarked that the Prime Minister has not spoken anything new. She claimed that the Prime Minister has bored the Parliamentarians. 

Responding to Gandhi’s remarks, Kiren Rijiju defended PM Narendra Modi’s address, stressing its significance. He added that maybe Priyanka Gandhi did not understand what the Prime Minister was saying, but everything Narendra Modi said was correct. 

He emphasized that PM Narendra Modi outlined 11 mantras for making India a developed nation. The Union Minister further underlined that the mantra is not for any single party but a collective mission, which all have to follow. Kiren Rijiju stated that they must work together to achieve the goal of Viksit Bharat by 2027. He added that whatever PM Modi said, they need to unite and make India a developed nation.   

Speaking during the Lok Sabha debate on the 75-year journey of India’s Constitution on Saturday, Kiren Rijiju accused the Congress of failing to honour Dr BR Ambedkar appropriately. He also demanded an apology from the party to lessen its sins, alleging that the Congress initially excluded Ambedkar from the cabinet and later made him lose the 1952 parliamentary election. He further questioned why the Bharat Ratna was conferred on Ambedkar only in 1990, decades after his contributions. 

The Union Minister dismissed claims that minorities lack safety and rights in India. Mentioning Article 15 of the Constitution, he stated that India has always ensured equal rights and opportunities for all, including minorities. He added that India is one of the first countries to grant universal suffrage. He also highlighted that the Constitution protects the freedom of religion and minority interests.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has released its fourth and final list for the 2025 Delhi Assembly Elections. The party has fielded national convenor and former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal from New Delhi and Chief Minister Atishi from Kalkaji.

The final list of 38 candidates features other key leaders of the party as well, including Saurabh Bharadwaj, Gopal Rai, Satyendra Kumar Jain and Durgesh Pathak. The elections to the 70-member assembly of the national capital are due to be held in February 2025.

Ahead of the elections, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal has ruled out any possibility of a pre-election alliance with the Congress. Kejriwal said that his party will fight the election on its own strength.

According to the list, Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj will contest the elections from Greater Kailash, while Gopal Rai has been fielded from Babarpur. AAP’s final list shows Satyendra Kumar Jain to be fighting the battlefield from Shakur Basti and Durgesh Pathak from Rajinder Nagar.

Additionally, other candidates include Ramesh Pehalwan from Kasturba Naga, Raghuvinder Shokeen from Nangloi, Imran Hussain from Ballimaran, Jarnail Singh from Tilak Nagar, and Sanjeev Jha from Burari.

Previously, speculations were rife over a possible alliance between the AAP and the Congress, the two INDIA bloc partners. These rumours caught heat after Kejriwal attended an opposition group meeting over the alleged EVM and VVPAT machines tampering in the recently held Maharashtra assembly elections.

Earlier in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Kejriwal’s party and the Congress had contested in an alliance in the national capital as well as other parts of the country.

Meanwhile, Congress has already fielded former CM Sheila Dikshit’s son Sandeep Dikshit for the Delhi polls, and the BJP is likely to field Parvesh Sahib Singh, son of ex-CM Sahib Singh Verma.

Ahead of the elections, Arvind Kejriwal announced five guarantees for auto drivers in Delhi. Among the key guarantees are Rs 1 lakh for marriage of daughters and life insurance worth Rs 10 lakh. He has also promised to provide ₹2,500 on Diwali and Holi as allowance to purchase school uniforms.

Additionally, while vouching for his party’s government, Arvind Kejriwal last month also issued a warning against the BJP. He mentioned that if the saffron is voted to power then Delhiites would once again face power cut problems.