Adamant Naik faces the axe

MUMBAI, May 7: High-profile Shiv Sena leader from Navi Mumbai and State Cabinet Minister for Forests and Environment, Ganesh Naik, continued...

MUMBAI, May 7: High-profile Shiv Sena leader from Navi Mumbai and State Cabinet Minister for Forests and Environment, Ganesh Naik, continued to defy the diktat of Chief Minister Manohar Joshi and refused to resign his post. Indications are that if the rebellious minister does not quit on his own by tomorrow, the Chief Minister will be left with no option but to summarily dismiss him.

Given his popularity on his home turf, observers note that by making the Chief Minister sack him Naik is angling to become a martyr. Much as the Sena leadership wish to avoid such an embarrassment, the axe may finally fall on Naik as the Sena chief Bal Thackeray is reported to have given the green signal to Joshi.

Joshi, while announcing the induction of two Cabinet-rank and six ministers of state, denied Naik had revolted against his leadership.

quot;During my meeting with Naik, he never challenged my leadership neither did he express displeasure against me,quot; Joshi asserted.

Joshi however refused to comment on thecontroversy despite persistent queries from newspersons, except to confirm that Naik is yet to submit his resignation.

Against this background, Joshi8217;s quot;minorquot; expansion of his ministry produced not surprises and followed the formula agreed upon by the alliance partners.Accordingly, the Bharatiya Janata Party BJP and the Sena shared the two new Cabinet berths announced.

The Chief Minister said he has recommended induction of Diwakar Raote Sena, Chairman of the Statutory Development Board for Marathwada and A T Pawar BJP, MLA from Nashik, as Cabinet Ministers.

Story continues below this ad

The others inducted, all of them as ministers of state, are Prataprao Jadhav, Dilip Sopal, D B Pawar, Vinayak Korde, Vijay Girkar, Pratapsinh Mohite-Patil. Of these, Prataprao Jadhav belong to the Shiv Sena and Dilip Sopal, though an Independent finds a berth in the Shiv Sena quota. The remaining 8212; A T Pawar, Vinayak Korde, Girkar and Mohite-Patil 8212; belong to the BJP.

Pratapsinh Mohite-Patil is a younger brother of senior Congress leaderand former Minister Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil. During the mid-term polls, Mohite-Patil joined the BJP.

A T Pawar has been elected from Nashik and Korde is a member of the Legislative Assembly from Amravati while D B Pawar has been elected from Kinwat in Nanded district.

Raote, Girkar and Pratapsinh Mohite-Patil are not the members of either of the Houses of the State Legislature. Raote was a former Mayor of Mumbai and was appointed Shiv Sena in-charge of Marathwada region three years ago.

Story continues below this ad

Replying to a question, Joshi said there was no demand from any of the Independent legislators to grant them Cabinet rank.

However, in addition to the four names announced, Joshi is considering to induct one more Independent legislator as Minister of State. With the induction of these two ministers, the total number of Independent legislators in the ministry will go up to seven.

While the Chief Minister did not announce the names of the Cabinet Members who will be given marching orders, he is likely to drop at leasttwo Cabinet colleagues including Ganesh Naik and four Ministers of State.

quot;I will declare the list of ministers to be dropped tomorrow. While some of them have resigned, I am expecting the resignation of those who have not yet submitted their resignations,quot; Joshi informed.

Story continues below this ad

Minister for Tribal Development Govindrao Choudhary, Minister of State Revenue Jagdish Gupta, Minister of State for Social Welfare Dilip Kamble, Minister of State for Irrigation Gulabrao Gawande and Minister of State for Dairy Development Goverdhan Sharma are likely to be dropped from the Cabinet.

No complaints against CM, BJP tells Thackeray

In a sudden volte face, a high-level Bharatiya Janata Party team led by Rural Development Minister Anna Dange today told the Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray that they have no complaint against the Chief Minister Manohar Joshi.

8220;We have no complaint against Joshi. The alliance government in the State is functioning smoothly,8221;Anna Dange said soon after his meeting with Thackeray.Dange was accompanied by BJP8217;s State unit president Suryabhan Wahadane and party general secretary Sharad Kulkarni.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, Anna Dange said since Chief Minister Manohar Joshi, Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde and Shiv Sena leader Raj Thackeray were not present, the meeting was adjourned to May 11. 8220;Now we have decided to meet frequently for more effective coordination between the government and the alliance partners,8221;Anna Dange added.