Like Sena, NCP too in turmoil over ‘long-distance’ guardian ministership

After getting Washim, which is 600 km away from his home district Kolhapur, Mushrif takes up issue with party leadership

Hasan Mushrif, a senior NCP minister, who hails from Kolhapur, has been appointed the district guardian minister of Washim, which is nearly 625 km away from where he stays (Express Photo)

LIKE the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, which is witnessing a turmoil after the announcement of district guardian ministers, the Ajit Pawar-led NCP is also facing resentment with a majority of them given charge of districts hundreds of kilometres away from their home district.

Of the 10 NCP ministers who have been appointed district guardian ministers, only Ajit Pawar, who is the Deputy Chief Minister and NCP national president, and Aditi Tatkare, who is the daughter of NCP state president Sunil Tatkare, have been appointed guardian ministers of the districts where they live. Incidentally, Ajit Pawar has enjoyed the district guardian ministership during both Congress-NCP and BJP-led Mahayuti regime.

The other eight ministers have been given charge of districts which are more than 200 to 600 km away from where they live. Upset over this, the newly-appointed NCP district guardian ministers have conveyed their resentment. In contrast, the BJP has out of its 20 ministers made seven the guardian ministers of their own districts.

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Hasan Mushrif, a senior NCP minister, who hails from Kolhapur, has been appointed the district guardian minister of Washim, which is nearly 625 km away from where he stays. On Tuesday, Mushrif made no bones about the fact that he was unhappy and would have been better off if he was given the guardian ministership of Kolhapur. “I have been minister for 20 years. Out of this, I have been the Kolhapur district guardian minister only for 14 months. Even then, I think I am the district guardian minister in the hearts of the people of Kolhapur,” Mushrif, who is the Medical Education Minister, told reporters on Tuesday.

Asked whether he was upset after getting the guardian ministership of a smaller district like Washim, Mushrif said, “I have patience and I am a loyalist. I conveyed my feelings to the party leadership and Ajit Pawar. When an alliance government is in place, such things do happen. At such times, it is important to handle the situation with patience.”

Like Mushrif, NCP minister Makrand Patil, who hails from Satara, has been appointed the district guardian minister of Buldhana, which is nearly 450 km from his district.

Also Read | Eknath Shinde says he is not upset, nothing wrong in demanding guardian ministership

Senior NCP leader Narhari Zirwal, who hails from Nashik, has been appointed the district guardian minister of Hingoli, which is nearly 450 km from the district he hails from. Zirwal had been demanding that he should be given district guaridan ministership of either Palghar, Nandurbarm or Thane.

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Yet another NCP minister Babasaheb Patil, who hails from Latur, has been appointed the district guardian minister of Gondia, which is 640 km away from his district.

The NCP, however, said the district guardian ministers should have no reason to complain. “Those who have been appointed district guardian ministers are also Maharashtra’s ministers. They are expected to tour the entire state and not remain confined to their own districts. While touring Maharashtra, they can plan the schedule of the district where they have been appointed guardian ministers,” NCP spokesperson Sanjay Tatkare told this paper.

Tatkare said even otherwise district guardian minister can tour their appointed districts once in 15 days and can remain in touch with officials through the phone regarding the implementation of the development plans.

Former Shiv Sena MP Shivajirao Adhalrao-Patil said district guardian ministers have to hold only two-three meetings in a year. “Otherwise they remain in touch with officials about implementation of plans,” he said.

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Meanwhile, the Shiv Sena, which is also unhappy over being denied the Raigad and Nashik guardian ministership, has decided to wait till Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis returns. On Tuesday, Sena ministers like Bharat Gogawale made no bones of the fact he was unhappy after NCP “snatched the Raigad district guardian ministership”. “Our party had worked hard for the victory of Sunil Tatkare during the Lok Sabha elections. And in return, NCP snatched the Raigad guardian ministership from us,” he alleged.

Manoj Dattatrye More

Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades. Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives. Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees. During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa. Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died. Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More

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