Three from Pune in Fadnavis ministry; Pimpri-Chinchwad sidelined again

Madhuri Misal 2nd woman minister from city in 46 years; senior-most NCP leader Dilip Walse-Patil and BJP MLA Mahesh Landge miss out.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis with Deputy Chief Ministers Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar. (PTI Photo)

THREE MLAs from Pune district have become ministers in the Mahayuti government in the state led by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Incidentally, Pune city will have its second woman minister after 46 years. Meanwhile Pimpri-Chinchwad, with its three MLAs, was given no representation by the Fadnavis government.

Two of the three selected MLAs are from BJP and one is from the Ajit Pawar-led NCP. Shiv Sena will have no minister from Pune.

The Fadnavis cabinet was expanded on Sunday and new ministers took oath in Nagpur. The event in the CM’s hometown, which was decked up for the occasion, started around 4.30 pm. The state governor administered the oath of office to ministers, 19 of whom belong to BJP, 11 to Sena and 9 are from NCP.

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BJP’s senior leader Chandrakant Patil, a seasoned campaigner who represents Kothrud constituency of Pune city, has again become a minister.

Also Read | Check out the list of NCP leaders who have made it into the Maharashtra cabinet

Madhuri Misal, four-time BJP MLA from Parvati Assembly seat, took oath as Minister of State, taking on the mantle for the first time. Misal is the second woman to become a minister in the state cabinet from Pune city in 46 years, the first being Shanti Naik who became a minister in 1978 in the PDF government led by Sharad Pawar. Misal, who was first elected four times as MLA from Parvati, has also served as Pune city president of BJP. She began her political career as a corporator in 2007 from Kasba Peth.

Speaking about her new role as minister, Misal said, “The party has entrusted me with a big responsbility. I am happy but feeling tense as well.”

Women leaders of Pune

Speaking on women leaders from Pune, Congress leader Ramesh Iyer said, ”Leela Merchant, who was the first MLA to be elected from Pune city, was elected from Kasba Assembly seat in 1972. Shanti Naik, who defeated Suresh Kalmadi from Shivajinagar seat in 1978, was the first woman to become a minister in the state government from Pune city. Kalmadi was Youth Congress president then. But the PWD government did not last long. After Naik, Misal is the second woman from Pune city to become the minister in the state cabinet. Pune will get a woman minister after 46 years.”

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NCP will have a minister from Pune rural, but not from the city. Dattatrya Bharne, who defeated Harshvardhan Patil from Indapur Assembly seat, took oath as cabinet minister. Bharne was rewarded for defeating Patil, who had worked against Sunetra Pawar during Lok Sabha elections, said NCP leaders.

Prominent among those who missed the ministerial bus is Dilip Walse-Patil of NCP. He was a minister in the previous Shinde government. Walse-Patil is NCP’s senior-most leader, and was also part of the successive Congress-NCP government. He has also served as Assembly Speaker. Walse-Patil had won Ambegaon Assembly seat for the eighth consecutive time. NCP sources said Walse-Patil had himself urged Deputy CM Ajit Pawar to keep him out of the ministry. ”He is likely to be appointed the governor,” said an NCP leader.

Also Read | Full list of Ministers of State in Maharashtra’s Mahayuti government

Industrial city left out again

Pimpri-Chinchwad which elected two BJP MLAs and one NCP MLA has been ignored once again. The industrial city has had no representation in the government for over 20 years. The last one to become a minister was Professor Ramkrishna More of Congress.

He was an MLC and was part of the Vilasrao Deshmukh government. After his death in 2003, Pimpri-Chinchwad has had no ministerial representation in the state. BJP MLA Mahesh Landge from Bhosari, who won for a third consecutive time, was expecting a ministerial post this time. His close associates said he was disappointed to be ignored once again.

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Prof Ramkrishna More, an MLC, was the education minister in the state cabinet, and died in 2003 after which Pimpri-Chinchwad has never been represented in the state ministry,” said political analyst Avinash Chilekar.

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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