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Rane inducts two ministers

Two new ministers of state -- Shiv Sena legislators Bala Nandgaonkar and Ashok Shinde -- were today inducted into the Maharashtra ministry while Minister of State for Home Prabhakar More was elevated to the Cabinet at a simple ceremony at Raj Bhavan in Bombay today.

They were administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor Dr P C Alexander.

Nandgaonkar represents Mazgaon in Bombay. He had defeated former housing minister Chhagan Bhujbal in the 1995 assembly polls when the latter had defected from the Sena to the Congress.

Shinde represents Hinganghat in Wardha district of Vidarbha.

The two vacancies in the ministry were caused by the resignation of minister of state for urban development Ravindra Mane and social welfare minister Babanrao Gholap.

Mane resigned due to the Bombay high court strictures against him in the Pune land deal case involving Girish Vyas, son-in-law of former chief minister Manohar Joshi, while Gholap resigned due to corruption charges against him.

The strength of the Rane ministry is now 47.

UNI

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