Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, July 14: Ignoring the concerns of the Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) leaders, all the nine ministers of the Nationalist Congress Party, including the deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, were allocated key portfolios in the cabinet reshuffle enforced by the chief minister Eknath Shinde on Friday.
Ajit Pawar, the NCP leader who spearheaded the mutiny against his uncle and party chief Sharad Pawar last month, joining the Shiv Sena-BJP government in Maharashtra as Deputy Chief Minister, has been rewarded with the keys to the state’s treasury.
The key portfolios, including finance, was believed to be the condition Ajit Pawar had put forth for joining the Sena-BJP government and was accepted by the BJP leaders. The Shiv Sena leaders, who earlier had threatened to quit the alliance if NCP was invited in, later had raised strong objections to Ajit Pawar given the finance portfolio, but were ignored.
Not only finance and planning to Aiit Pawar, Shinde was also forced to give away several other key portfolios to the NCP including co-operation which occupy a very important place in Maharashtra given the power of the sugar lobby. Nine NCP MLAs who were inducted into the Maharashtra state cabinet last month, capping months of speculation about a rebellion, finally received their portfolios on Friday.
Chhagan Bhujbal will oversee the Food Civil Supply and Consumer Protection Department, while Dharamraobaba Atram will head the Drug and Administration (FDA) portfolio. The Department of Cooperation will be under the stewardship of Dilip Walse Patil and Dhananjay Munde has been assigned Agriculture. Hasan Mushrif will manage the Medical Education department, while Anil Patil will lead Relief and Rehabilitation, as well as Disaster Management. Aditi Tatkare is set to run the Women and Child Welfare department, with Sanjay Bansode receiving the Sports and Youth Welfare, and Port portfolios.
The cabinet expansion and allocation of portfolios were bound to happen, it was only a matter of time,” said Shiv Sena spokesperson Sanjay Shirsat amidst widespread speculation and objections raised by some party factions. The Shiv Sena faction led by former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had cast doubts that the cabinet expansion would proceed smoothly, considering the imbalance in the number of MLAs vying for ministerial positions and the actual posts available.
Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Council, Ambadas Danve, said, “There is a lot of discontent among the BJP workers. It is very difficult to meet the expectations of MLAs of the three parties.” Danve also raised questions over the possible neglect of the Eknath Shinde-led faction of the Shiv Sena in the cabinet expansion, a concern echoed by Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut.
With the new allocations, CM Shinde will now oversee General Administration, Urban Development, Information Technology, Information and Public Relations, Transport, Social Justice, Environment and Climate Change, Mining, and other departments which were not assigned to other Ministers. Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis will handle Home, Law and Justice, Water Resources and River Development, Energy, and Parliamentary Affairs.
The Sharad Pawar-led NCP mocked the BJP with “washing machine” jibe after Walse Patil, a member of the Ajit Pawar faction, was made Maharashtra’s cooperation minister.
The BJP has been accusing Ajit Pawar of scams and corruption in the cooperative sector in the state and the allegations were mentioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a public address as well, claimed Clyde Crasto, a spokesperson of the Sharad Pawar-led NCP.
“There are many questions that have come up because of this and the BJP needs to answer them. Was the BJP making allegations against him (Ajit Pawar) to put pressure on him and his group or was this just a part of their (the BJP’s) washing machine scheme. Mostly importantly, does the BJP endorse the alleged scams and corruption in the cooperative sector?” Crasto asked.
The opposition has attacked the BJP often with the “washing machine” jibe, alleging that leaders being probed by agencies become “clean” after joining the BJP.
