Prithviraj Chavan keeps nepotism at bay

Days before the expansion,there was talk on attempts to get ministerial berths for children of party bigwigs.

There were reports that President Pratibha Patil’s son Rajendra Shekhawat,Union minister Vilasrao Deshmukh’s son Amit and Sushilkumar Shinde’s daughter Praniti — all of them MLAs– were vying for berths.

However,the party leadership thought if either young legislator were included,it would send a wrong signal at a time when the party is besieged with several issues like Adarsh housing scam and the 2G spectrum scam,the leader said.

Chavan,however,has managed to include young legislators Satej Patil and Rajendra Mulak,known as his staunch supporters.

He expanded his cabinet today by inducting 29 more ministers,including 19 of cabinet rank,taking the ministry’s strength to 40. At present,the cabinet has 20 ministers each from the Congress and NCP. The strength of the ministry has to be 43,with Congress-NCP sharing the 23:20 seat formula.