CM Eknath Shinde Cabinet extension after July 11 court hearing

Mumbai: It is understood that Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis have agreed to use the performance formula along with other criteria while giving a chance as a minister. An opportunity will be given to check the scope of working as a minister without using only these two criteria while achieving ethnic and divisional balance. The cabinet will be expanded after the July 11 Supreme Court hearing, sources said.

The Shinde group will get relief from the court, it is claimed, based on earlier verdicts in some other states. However, sources said that Shinde and Fadnavis agreed to extend the extension only after July 11 without taking any risk. The Lok Sabha elections will be held in one and a half to two years, followed by the Assembly elections in six to eight months. So the performance formula is being applied.

"I accepted the post of Deputy Chief Minister after being told by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, National President JP Nadda. The party order is all that matters to me. If the party says so, I am ready to sit at home too" said Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis.