Three Maharashtra ministers may quit, back Pawar

“The three ministers are said to have been in close contact with Sharad Pawar, president of the Nationalist Congress Party, for some weeks now. In all probability, they will put in their papers within a couple of days,” well-placed sources told The Indian Express today.

The resignations, which the sources said would merely be a “delayed political formality”, will be a major setback for the saffron alliance government.

Of the three, Naik, who is Minister of State for Public Works, and Sopal, handling Law and Judiciary, belong to the group of independent MLAs supporting the Sena-BJP government while Minister of Statefor Revenue Bhosale was elected to the State Assembly on a BJP ticket.

A meeting of the independent ministers and MLAs, convened by Chief Minister Narayan Rane in Mumbai last week, is being viewed in this regard, suggesting that a fresh revolt is on the cards. The meeting was attended by only six independent MLAs and eight of the 10 ministers.

Sopal, a close Pawar associate from Solapur district, stayed away from the meeting though it was stated that he could not attend because his wife had passed away. He is believed to have been in regular touch with Pawar.

Udayanraje Bhosale, on his part, met Pawar twice in recent days. The first meeting between the two was at a guest house of a private company in the industrial township of Pimpri-Chinchwad when Pawar came visiting last week. Bhosale was accompanied by Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar, MLA from Phaltan in Bhosale’s Satara district.

He later met Pawar in the company of Deputy Chairman of the Legislative Council Vasant Dawkhare.

When Udayanraje Bhosalejoined the BJP, it was seen as a major plus for the party in sugar-rich western Maharashtra. He later defeated his cousin, Shivendraraje, son of Congress MP Abhaysinhraje, in a bye-election for the Satara constituency in June last year. The seat had fallen vacant after Abhaysinharaje Bhosale was elected to the Lok Sabha.

Minister of State for Public Works Shivajirao Naik, representing Shirala Assembly segment from Sangli district, was also said to have made up his mind about quitting. Many of Naik’s followers flocked to Mumbai for the NCP rally last month.

If Naik exits and backs Pawar, he will also pose a threat to Prithviraj Chavan of the Congress in Karad. Already three former Congress MLAs from Chavan’s parliamentary constituency — Jayant Patil (Walwa) P D Patil (Karad north) and Vikramsinha Patankar (Patan) — have thrown their weight behind Pawar and Congress MLA from Karad south, Vilasrao Undalkar Patil, is not expected to stand by the beleaguered Chavan.