© The Indian Express (P) Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
It has been 25 days since Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis took oath. The two made four trips to Delhi since then to talk to the BJP top brass about expanding the Council of Ministers. But, given the high number of aspirants from both the rebel Shiv Sena leaders’ camp and the BJP side, the exercise has been on hold.
The Cabinet expansion, however, is expected to take place this week as the state Assembly’s Monsoon session is likely to be held in the first week of August and the Opposition is using the current situation to accuse the Maharashtra government of hampering relief operations in areas of the state which affected by incessant rains. According to insiders, both Shinde and Fadnavais were expected to meet the BJP central leadership in New Delhi on Monday. The two arrived in the national Capital to attend the swearing-in ceremony of President Droupadi Murmu.
It remains to be seen how the BJP and Shinde accommodate the high number of aspirants in the Council of Ministers that can have a maximum of 43 ministers, including the CM. In the rebel Shiv Sena camp, excluding Shinde, there are eight former ministers — four Cabinet ministers and four ministers of state (MoS) — from the previous Uddhav Thackeray-led administration. According to insiders in the Shinde camp, former MoS and Independent MLA Bachchu Kadu has been promised a Cabinet berth. The Shinde camp also has bigwigs such as Tanaji Sawant from Osmanabad district and Deepak Kesarkar from Sindhudurg. Both of them were ministers in the BJP-Shiv Sena government that was in power from 2014 to 2019.
The incumbent CM also has to contend with the aspirations of Sanjay Rathod, the forest minister in the Uddhav Thackeray government who had to resign over a case of a woman’s suicide. Shinde may also have to accommodate his key aide and the Sena rebels’ Assembly chief whip Bharat Gogawale from Mahad in Raigad district. In addition, Sanjay Shirsat from Aurangabad district is also looking to bag a ministerial position.
The BJP leadership too has to accommodate several top leaders, including senior MLAs and ministers in the previous BJP-led government in the state. According to party insiders, several such leaders have been camping in Delhi to lobby for a Cabinet berth and important portfolios. While uncertainty remains over whether Fadnavis will get the home or finance portfolio, BJP functionaries said senior leaders and former ministers such as state BJP chief Chandrakant Patil, Sudhir Mungantiwar, Ashish Shelar, Sanjay Kute, and Pravin Darekar were expected to get charge of important ministries.
But, sensing the uncertainty among his party colleagues, Fadnavis on Saturday advised them during a BJP executive committee meeting that they should exercise restraint and even hinted that all hopefuls might not get accommodated in the Cabinet expansion.
“The Cabinet expansion will take place two to three days prior to the Monsoon session of the legislature, which could be held in the first week of August,” said a senior BJP leader.
A former minister in the Shinde camp said they had not yet heard from the CM about the date of the swearing-in ceremony. “We expect everyone will be taken care of as promised. The expansion of Cabinet is being discussed and it will happen at the right moment,” he said.
But the pending expansion of the council of ministers has left the government open to attacks from the Opposition. On Monday, Leader of the Opposition Ajit Pawar of the Nationalist Congress Party said the political uncertainty was severely hurting relief and rescue work in places that have suffered heavy losses because of floods.
“Since the Cabinet expansion has not taken place, the guardian ministers of respective districts are not available and the entire government machinery is working leaderless, harming the relief operations,” Pawar wrote in a letter to Shinde and Fadnavis. He demanded that the Monsoon session, which has been postponed indefinitely due to political developments in the state, be convened from August 1.
