Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis along with Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray during the swearing-in ceremony for the new ministers from Shiv Sena in Mumbai on Friday. (PTI Photo)

MUMBAI: The allocation of portfolios in the expanded council of ministers finally happened on Saturday - barely 48 hours before the winter session of the Maharashtra legislature is to begin - and saw the Shiv Sena corner plum portfolios, such as industries, environment and transport. Political observers attributed the delay in portfolio finalization to the tension between BJP and Shiv Sena .The delay left the new ministers with hardly any time to interact with key officials to get a hang of their respective departments or to prepare for the mandatory Question Hour in the assembly on the first day of the session in Nagpur on Monday, said Vidhan Bhavan observers.The Shiv Sena cabinet rank ministers are Subhash Desai (industries), Diwakar Raote (transport), Ramdas Kadam (environment), Eknath Shinde (public works-public undertakings) and Deepak Sawant (health and family welfare).Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had expanded his council of ministers on Friday after the Shiv Sena decided to move from the Opposition to the government. The CM retained the crucial portfolios of home, urban development, law and judiciary, and information and public relations. The Sena had set its sights on the home ministry, but the demand was rejected by Fadnavis.The CM also gave the posts of minister of state (MoS) for home (rural) and home (urban) to BJP men, Ram Shinde and Ranjit Patil, respectively."The portfolio allocation should have been decided well in time to allow the debutant ministers breathing space for acquainting themselves with key issues involving their ministries," a senior Mantralaya bureaucrat said. "The haste with which the BJP-Sena has cobbled together the ministerial team and distributed portfolios does not augur well for the state administration."To make matters worse for the bureaucracy, several newly inducted ministers raced back to their constituencies on Saturday to celebrate with their supporters back home; among these were Girish Bapat, Girish Mahajan and Dadaji Bhuse.As the expanded cabinet reflects a definite Vidarbha tilt, Fadnavis seems to have had his way while choosing his ministers, said a senior state BJP functionary. "It appears that the party high command gave a good measure of freedom to the CM to form his ministry," the BJP functionary said.Among the the Shiv Sena ministers of state, Sanjay Rathod got revenue while Dadaji Bhuse was given the cooperation department.Chandrakant Patil, the BJP strategist who played a key role in getting the Shiv Sena to join the Fadnavis ministry, is the cabinet minister for cooperation.As MoS for water resources and water conservation department, Vijay Shivtare, the Shiv Sena MLA from Purandar in Pune district, will have to coordinate with Pankaja Munde, the cabinet rank minister for the department, to resolve the drinking water issues faced by Marathwada and Vidarbha.Deepak Kesarkar, who won the Sawantwadi assembly seat in Konkan as a Shiv Sena candidate, is the MoS for finance and rural development. Ravindra Waikar, the two-time Shiv Sena MLA from Jogeshwari, is the MoS for housing as well as higher and technical education. Senior BJP ministers Prakash Mehta and Vinod Tawde hold the housing and higher and technical education portfolios, respectively.In the cabinet, BJP veteran Girish Bapat is the food and civil supplies minister, while senior party MLA Girish Mahajan is the water resources minister. Chandrashekhar Bawankule, the three-time BJP MLA from Kamthi in Nagpur got energy, while three-time party MLA from Partur in Jalna Babanrao Lonikar got water supply and sanitation.Vijaykumar Deshmukh and Ranjeet Patil of the BJP are ministers of state for public works and transport, and home (urban), respectively, while BJP MLC Pravin Pote-Patil is MoS for industries, mining and environment.Both Patil and Pote-Patil are said to be close to Fadnavis; both are MLCs and belong to Vidarbha.