Mumbai Confidential: Top cop on vigil

The post of Additional DG (law & order) is mostly confined to the police headquarters in Colaba with superintendents of various districts reporting to him. However, given the rising number of communal incidents in the state, incumbent ADG Sanjay Saxena has been hopping across the state wherever communal unrest is reported — from Akola to Kolhapur — in order to ensure quick action and de-escalation of tension in the area.

Replacing Ministers

SPECULATIONS ARE rife in political circles that at least four Sena ministers could be dropped during the forthcoming cabinet expansion in the state and fresh faces may get opportunity. CM Shinde and Dy CM Devendra Fadnavis had met Union Home Minister Amit Shah last week in Delhi during which a discussion on cabinet expansion took place. However, Shah is said to have told CM Shinde to replace four existing ministers and avoid controversial faces while expanding cabinet. This has put Shinde in a difficult situation and the cabinet expansion has got stuck again. Incidentally, a couple of days after the Shinde-Fadnavis and Shah meeting in Delhi, Shinde-led Sena leader and Food and Drug Administration Minister Sanjay Rathod suddenly went to Delhi to meet Shah, triggering speculations that Rathod’s ministry berth is in danger. Rathod, who was in controversy over the Pooja Chavan suicide case, however has been tight-lipped over the issue.

‘God Gives Land’

AFTER A delay of almost 10 months, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis laid the foundation stone for Tirupati Balaji temple in Navi Mumbai on Wednesday. However, during the function, CM Shinde looked upset when Y V Subba Reddy, the chairman of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) thanked Shiv Sena UBT leader Aaditya Thackeray too along with Fadnavis and Shinde for allotting the land for the temple. In order to avoid giving credit to Aaditya for allotting the 10 acres of land for temple during the Maha Vikas Aghadi government, Shinde attempted to downplay the allocation of land during the MVA stating that “who are we to allot the land, it’s God, Lord Balaji who has given everything. Who are we to give anything?” Even as he downplayed the allocation of the land for the temple, he took credit for giving environmental and other clearances for the construction of the temple, in the absence of which Bhumi Pujan of the temple was cancelled last year in August.