NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal says he will be inducted into Maharashtra cabinet on Tuesday

Mumbai: Senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Chhagan Bhujbal on Monday night said he will be inducted into the Maharashtra cabinet headed by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday, marking his return to ministerial office after a long gap.

"I have been informed that I will be inducted into the state cabinet. Oath ceremony will take place at 10 am on Tuesday," he said.

Sources in the BJP, which heads the ruling Mahayuti coalition, confirmed the development. The veteran politician will be sworn in by Maharashtra Governor C P Radhakrishnan at Raj Bhavan. Bhujbal (77), who has had a distinguished and eventful political career spanning several decades, had been notably absent during Chief Minister Fadnavis's cabinet expansion in December last year.

At the time, his exclusion from the cabinet had drawn public disappointment from the seasoned leader, a prominent OBC face in the state. His inclusion in the cabinet follows the resignation of Dhananjay Munde, a fellow NCP heavyweight who stepped down as the food, civil supplies and consumer protection minister in March.

Munde had resigned citing health grounds, but his departure from the cabinet came against the backdrop of his close aide Walmik Karad being named as a key accused in sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh murder case.

In the past, Bhujbal, the MLA from Yeola in Nashik district, has served as a cabinet minister, including as deputy CM, in different governments. According to sources, the decision regarding portfolio allocation to Bhujbal rests with the Chief Minister and will be announced after the swearing-in ceremony. The ruling Mahayuti coalition consists of the BJP, the Shiv Sena and the NCP led by deputy CM Ajit Pawar.