Mumbai, Nov 23: A fortnight after Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh allocated portfolios to his Cabinet colleagues, most of the ministers of state find themselves still without work. ``As a minister of state, I am holding a key portfolio. But ever since I was allocated a department, not a single file has been earmarked for me either for decision or opinion,'' bemoans a minister of state.The agony of twiddling thumbs is understandable since there was already an inordinate delay in allocation of portfolios following a row over the jumbo size of the Cabinet, which was subsequently cut by six.As per rules of business, it is the prerogative of the Cabinet Minister to allocate work to his deputy or otherwise. ``Certainly, it is the prerogative of the Cabinet member, but we expect a better deal, since we are also part of the Government,'' a minister of state added.A section of ministers of state have demanded that the allocation of work to them should be on the pattern of one existing during the tenure ofSudhakarrao Naik and Sharad Pawar. ``Then every minister of state had a specific work. In case of quasi-judicial cases, litigations from the rural areas were referred to the minister of state, while urban areas were looked after the Cabinet minister,'' a minister of state added.The practice prevailed till the time the Sena-BJP government took over the reins of the State. Then Chief Minister Manohar Joshi did not allow the ministers of state to participate in the Cabinet meetings and the allocation of work to the ministers of state was left to the Cabinet members.``During the Sena-BJP rule, most of the ministers of state were not assigned any specific work by their Cabinet ministers. So far as their participation in the Cabinet proceedings was concerned, Joshi had introduced the practice of holding a monthly meeting of the entire Cabinet along with the ministers of State,'' the Minister of State pointed out.Though Deshmukh has continued with the same practice, ministers of state feel that such apractice should be scrapped and even they should also be invited for Cabinet meetings. ``Though we are ministers of state, we do not know the decisions taken by the Cabinet. We come to know of it only through the media,'' he added.Among the ministers of state, Ajit Ghorpade is facing a piquant situation. He has been made minister of state for Irrigation for Krishna Valley Projects and Konkan Irrigation Development Corporation. Since in both the corporations, the Cabinet member is the chairman, the minister of state has no role, he is not even the member of these corporations. ``Legally speaking, Ghorpade will have absolutely no say in the decision-making process of the two corporations. As per the constitution of the corporations, it is headed by the Cabinet Minister (Ajit Pawar) and there is no post for the minister of state,'' a senior official pointed out.In the event no work is allocated to them in a time-bound period, the affected ministers of state are planning to approach the Chief Minister.
