Maharashtra govt announces names of 36 guardian ministers: Dhananjay Munde not in list, CM Fadnavis gets Gadchiroli
Minister Dhananjay Munde, who has been in the firing line of the Opposition over the Beed sarpanch murder case in which his close aide has been arrested, did not find his name in the list.
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Dhananjay Munde . was earlier the guardian minister of Beed in the Eknath Shinde-led Mahayuti government (Express Photo)A month after the allocation of portfolios, the Maharashtra government on Saturday declared the names of guardian ministers for all 36 districts of the state with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis taking charge of Naxal-affected Gadchiroli district. Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has been named as guardian minister of Mumbai city and Thane, while Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar will oversee Beed and Pune districts.
Minister Dhananjay Munde, who has been in the firing line of the Opposition over the Beed sarpanch murder case in which his close aide has been arrested, did not find his name in the list. He was earlier the guardian minister of Beed in the Eknath Shinde-led Mahayuti government.
Sena’s Dada Bhuse, Yogesh Kadam and Bharat Gogawale have not been named as guardian ministers apart from Munde.
The Oppositition as well as some ruling party legislators were against Dhananjay Munde getting the guardian ministership of Beed district.
Munde’s cousin sister and BJP minister Pankaja Munde has, however, been made the guardian minister of Jalna district.
In all, 36 ministers out of the 42 who have been sworn in as ministers in the state government have been assigned the charge of guardian minister. The role of a guardian minister is crucial as it involves controlling the District Planning and Development Council (DPDC) funds, which are allocated for development and beautification projects.
“In view of the current changed political and social situation in Beed district, I had personally requested the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Ministers to allow Ajit Dada (Pawar) to accept the post of Guardian Ministership of Beed district. Accordingly, I am happy that Dada accepted the post of Guardian Minister of Beed district. I thank the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister for accepting my request that I do not want the responsibility of the Guardian Minister of any district at the present time! I will always strive to discharge the responsibility of the department given to me honestly,” Munde posted on X.
BJP minister Aashish Shelar and Mangal Prabhat Lodha will jointly hold charge of guardian ministership of Mumbai suburban district, while Minister of State Aashish Jaiswal will jointly hold guardian ministership of Gadchiroli with Fadnavis.
BJP minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule will serve as guardian minister of Nagpur and Amaravati, Nitesh Rane for Sindhudurg, Sena’s Uday Samant will be in charge of Ratnagiri, Manikrao Kokate for Nandurbar and Sanjay Shirsat for Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar. In a setback for Shiv Sena, Aditi Tatkare of NCP will serve as guardian minister of Raigad district.
While Girish Mahajan has been named as the guardian minister for Nashik, Shiv Sena minister Shambhuraj Desai has been appointed as guardian minister for Satara, while Shivendra Singh Bhosle has been appointed for Latur.
Sena minister Pratap Sarnaik has been appointed for Dharashiv, Gulabrao Patil for Jalgaon and Sanjay Rathod for Yavatmal.
BJP minister Chandrakant Patil, who was in a race with Ajit Pawar for Pune’s guardian minister post, has been appointed as guardian minister for Sangli.
While in Kolhapur district, guardian minister charge will be jointly held by Sena’s Prakash Abitkar and BJP’s Madhuri Misal. NCP’s Hasan Mushrif, who was in charge of Kolhapur, has been given charge of Washim district.
After the portfolio allocation was announced by the Mahayuti government last month, there was intense jockeying among the ruling allies over the appointment of guardian ministers with multiple contenders for the coveted post in several districts. There was an intense race in at least 11 districts — Nashik, Jalgaon, Raigad, Satara, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Thane, Sambhaji Nagar, Beed, Pune and Kolhapur.
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