Maharashtra: Many former BJP ministers fail to get Cabinet berth

About a dozen MLAs who were ministers in the 2014-19 BJP-Shiv Sena coalition failed to find a berth in the Eknath Shinde Cabinet on Tuesday. On the list are former BJP ministers Ashish Shelar, Subash Deshmukh, Jaikumar Rawal, Ram Shinde, Chandrashekhar Bawankule, Vijay Deshmukh, Yogesh Sagar, Sambhaji Patil Nilengekar, Babanrao Lonikar, Sanjay Kute, and Ashok Uike.

The BJP has indicated that some of these will be given organisational responsibilities while some will make it to the Cabinet in the second expansion. With state unit chief Chandrakant Patil becoming a Cabinet minister, the party will have to find a suitable replacement. The BJP is likely to go for an OBC candidate for the post and among the frontrunners are Chandrashekhar Bawankule, Ram Shinde, and Sanjay Kute. Currently, Bawankule is the party general secretary. In 2019, he was denied the ticket to contest assembly elections.

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Shelar is likely to be given the party’s Mumbai charge keeping in mind the crucial Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation polls ahead as Mangal Prabhat Lodha, the BJP city chief, has made it to the Cabinet. However, a formal decision is still awaited.

Moreover, at least two MLAs from Shinde camp who were expecting to become ministers have been told to wait. Rebel Sena MLA Sanjay Shirsat from Aurangabad, and Bharat Gogawale from Mahad constituency in Raigad have been asked to wait till the next expansion. Both these MLAs played an important role in engineering a split in Shiv Sena. When contacted Shirsat said, “I am hopeful to make it in the next Cabinet expansion. This time, the priority was given to MLAs who were ministers in the Maha Vikas Aghadi government.”