Mumbai, Nov 1: Though chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh has managed to tide over the crisis over pruning his jumbo ministry on NCP's demand, his troubles are far from over with the sacked ministers taking him to task and another cabinet member forcing a reshuffle. For Deshmukh, one thing seems to be leading to another and solving one problem isn't helping as there's another one staring him in the face.So, after he finally managed to allot portfolios to his ministers, at least one of them - Makhram Pawar - was not happy, forcing Deshmukh to go in for a reshuffle.And just when he thought that he had put the row over a jumbo cabinet behind him, some of the sacked ministers openly flayed his `surrender' to Sharad Pawar with the powerful Congress MLA from Vidarbha, Satish Chaturvedi, charging that Pawar was actually working to bring down the Democratic Front government.After the NCP objected to the size of the Deshmukh ministry, the Congress had dropped Satish Chaturvedi, Harshavardhan Patil, BanduSawarbandhe, Madhu Chavan and NCP had dropped Ankush Tope and Rajendra Shingane.While, Chaturvedi and Harshavardhan Patil have taken strong exception to their unceremonious dismissal, saying they were victims of a larger political conspiracy, supporters of Chavan have stated that Deshmukh should have resigned instead of succumbing to the pressure from the NCP leaders.``I am a victim of a conspiracy hatched by Sharad Pawar, N K P Salve and Nagpur MP Vilas Muttemwar. During my 18 years as a member of the lower House, I never faced such a humiliation. It was like a coronation immediately followed by a funeral,'' an agitated Chaturvedi told The Indian Express.Chaturvedi also rubbished the NCP's concern over the size of state cabinet. ``The theory of jumbo cabinet advanced by NCP is unacceptable. Till the induction of Harshavardhan Patil, NCP was least bothered about the size of the cabinet. However, the moment they saw Harshavardhan's name in the list, they discovered that the size of the cabinetwas very big,'' Chaturvedi pointed out.Launching a frontal attack on NCP President Sharad Pawar, Chaturvedi, a former Minister of State, remarked, the NCP will have to play a heavy political price for its blackmailing tactics. ``Certainly, NCP tried to pressurise, but it was error on the part of the Congress to surrender.First, it was the election of the Speaker, then it was the size of the cabinet and now, even the list of the ministers to be dropped from the cabinet was handed over by the NCP. As a loyal Congress worker, I feel it is time for introspection,'' Chaturvedi added.Chaturvedi said the manner in which the Democratic Front was being run, one would believe that Pawar was all set to destabilise the government. ``We feel that sooner or later, he will have an alliance with the BJP at the national level. Once that this done, he will ensure that the assembly is dissolved or he will have an alliance with the BJP at the state level too,'' he added.Chaturvedi also took a dig at Deputy ChiefMinister Chhagan Bhujbal. ``From his style of functioning, it appears that he has set a personal agenda of targeting one family. This needs to be stopped immediately,'' he said.Another sacked cabinet member, Harshavardhan Patil, who was Minister of State in the erstwhile Sena-BJP rule, alleged that he was victimised by a section of the NCP leadership. ``Certainly, my inclusion in the cabinet was not acceptable to senior NCP leaders from Baramati and Indapur,'' Patil said, adding, that Independent legislators, who had extended support to the Democratic Front government will meet in a day or two to chalk out a new strategy.NCP leaders, particularly Ajit, nephew of Sharad Pawar, had taken strong objection to the inclusion of Harshavardhan Patil in the cabinet. Patil was instrumental in gaining control over the Malegaon Cooperative Sugar Factory, which was earlier controlled by Ajit Pawar.Supporters of Madhu Chavan, another dropped Congressman, charged that Deshmukh was giving preference to politicians fromUttar Pradesh. ``We have three cabinet members Kripa Shankar Singh, Nawab Malik and Mohamad Arif Khan from Uttar Pradesh. However, the only Maratha elected from Mumbai has been given marching orders. We feel, Deshmukh should reconsider his decision. If he is unable to reverse it, he should quit,'' Congress leader Kishore Shinde said.Meanwhile, after a late night reshuffle on Monday RPI Ambedkar-BMS member and cabinet minister Makhram Pawar has been entrusted with the charge of Animal Husbandry and Mining, agencies reported.Pawar had expressed his dissatisfaction with the portfolio of Commerce and Prohibition Propaganda, allotted to him last night, the sources said.Portfolios of two ministers of state, belonging to the NCP and PWP have been swapped.The Cultural Affairs portfolio, allocated to Meenakshitai Patil (PWP) has been given to Sunil Tatkare (NCP).The Ports portfolio, earlier allocated to Tatkare, would now be handled by Meenakshitai patil, the sources said.
