Why Ajit Pawar’s NCP played hardball over district guardian ministerships — Lok Sabha polls

The guardian minister chairs the meetings of the District Planning Development

Committee that controls the implementation of developmental and infrastructure schemes in a district. The minister usually has a final say on the expenditure of the committee’s funds and many a time it has been seen that the minister favours his or her party workers and areas with an eye on electoral gains. Of the nine NCP ministers, only Chhagan Bhujbal and Aditi Tatkare have not been given district guardianships. They hail from Nashik and Raigad districts, respectively.

For Ajit, Pune holds importance as it is his home district and all eyes will be on the Baramati Lok Sabha constituency, where the MP is his cousin Supriya Sule. It is among the seats that the BJP has its sights on wresting from the party. In Kolhapur, Mushrif is the only big NCP leader while Gondia is the home district of senior leader Praful Patel. The Ajit group has its eyes on Parbhani, whose MP Sanjay Jadhav is still with the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray). In Buldhana and Nandurbar, the Ajit group will have the task of strengthening the organisation as both the BJP and the Congress have a sizable support base there.

The NCP demanded that Tatkare be appointed the guardian minister of Raigad, a post currently held by Uday Samant of the Shinde Sena. Similarly, the NCP also sought the guardian ministership of Nashik and Satara, but Dada Bhuse and Shambhuraj Desai of the Sena were not removed after their party refused to cede the posts.

The Ajit group’s state president, Sunil Tatkare, told The Indian Express in an interview on Wednesday that the issue of guardian ministership of Nashik and Raigad would be resolved along with the state Cabinet expansion.