Maharashtra minister Sudhir Mungantiwar on Friday said an expansion of the state cabinet is expected to take place "soon" to fill up the existing vacancies.“There can be 23 more ministers in the state government. The Chief Minister and Deputy CM will discuss the issue. New MLAs can get a chance to serve the general public and an expansion of the cabinet is likely to be done very soon," he added.
The BJP leader, who was inducted into the cabinet on August 9, handles forest, cultural affairs and fishery portfolios. Mungantiwar said there were 33 ministers in the last government. The induction of 18 new members into the Maharashtra cabinet took its strength to 20. The permissible number of council of ministers in the state, including CM, is 43.