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After some waiting, the Maharashtra CM question finally found an answer Friday. But now, a new challenge arises in the form of portfolio allocation.
Devendra Fadnavis took oath as Chief Minister at a gala event dominated by stars. Having fought its way back to the top, the BJP did not blink for over 10 tense days as Shiv Sena chief and ally Eknath Shinde tried every trick to stay on as CM.
The swearing-in of Fadnavis points to how it has taken exactly six months for the BJP to change the perception around its fortunes.
Just after the June 4 Lok Sabha results, when the BJP tally slid to 240 from 303 seats, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed NDA MPs as a collective. In his speech, he referred to the NDA several times, emphasising the “coherence” of the alliance over the past decades despite the fact that many parties had joined and left it. The sense of his speech was the centrality of the NDA to a diminished BJP.
But will it be all that easy for Fadnavis? Not really.
There are a plenty of challenges confronting his administration on almost all fronts — social, economic, and political.
The economic problems facing the new Mahayuti government will be immense as Fadnavis is forced to navigate the challenge of balancing the financial considerations of a debt-ridden state with the populist measures that the ruling alliance promised in the run-up to the elections.
According to a report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) from earlier this year, the state has to repay Rs 2.75 lakh crore of debt in seven years, making financial disbursement for welfare schemes a tough task.
Then there are political considerations Fadnavis has to make. While a weak Opposition is good news for the new CM, managing intra-coalition conflict could potentially pose a problem. The difficulty in getting his predecessor Eknath Shinde to accept the Deputy CM post showed that he would not be a “yes man” and the Shiv Sena would bargain hard to have its way in the government.
Shinde is reportedly said to be looking at Home and Urban Development.
Ajit Pawar, who has scored some points with the BJP by projecting himself as an entirely amenable ally, has his own demands as well, with Housing and Finance – held by him in the previous Mahayuti government – top of his list.
The Urban Development ministry is being eyed by Shiv Sena, but there is a tussle for Revenue, Housing, and Urban Development.
With hours to go for the first meeting of the Hemant Soren-led INDIA government in Jharkhand Friday, it found itself confronting its first political test, around whose writ runs within the 56-seat alliance in the state.
The tension was triggered by the “leak” of a letter purportedly sent on Thursday by the Congress leadership in Delhi to Chief Minister Soren over portfolio allocations to Congress ministers. A miffed Soren reportedly saw it as a challenge to his authority.
However, the final portfolios announced on Friday afternoon showed very few changes from what the letter purportedly written by Congress general secretary K C Venugopal said.
The letter seemingly written by Venugopal emerged hours after the Soren ministry took oath (the CM had been sworn in a couple of days ago), including four members from the Congress. It said: “Dear Hemant Soren ji, This is to inform you that the Hon’ble Congress President has approved the portfolio allocations for the Ministers from the Indian National Congress, as detailed below.” It went on to say that this was for Soren’s “further necessary action”.
As per the letter, Chhatarpur Congress MLA Radha Krishna Kishore would get Finance, Planning and Development, Commercial Taxes, Food, Public Distribution & Consumer Affairs; Mahagama MLA Deepika Pandey Singh would hold the portfolios of Health, Medical Education & Family Welfare Department, and Parliamentary Affairs; Jamtara legislator Irfan Ansari would be Minister of Rural Development and Rural Work Department of Panchayati Raj; and Mandar MLA Shilpi Neha Tirkey the Minister of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry & Cooperatives, and Disaster Management.
As per the official announcement made Friday, Kishore is the new Finance, Commerce, Planning and Development, and Parliamentary Affairs Minister; Deepika Pandey has got Rural Development, Rural Affairs, and Panchayati Raj; Ansari has been assigned Health, Public Distribution and Disaster Management; and Tirkey gets Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Cooperatives.
CM Soren has himself kept the portfolios of Administrative Reforms, Home, Public Works and Vigilance, among others.
— With PTI inputs
