Wednesday, 22 January 2025
Wednesday, 22 January 2025
There is no place quite like home for Maharashtra’s deputy chief minister and former chief minister Eknath Shinde.
Amid cracks in the Mahayuti over appointment of guardian ministers, a sulking Shinde has been at his village in Satara’s Dare, while chief minister Devendra Fadnavis is in Davos for the World Economic Forum meet.
Shinde’s departure for home came on the same day when the Maharashtra government announced the names of guardian ministers for 36 districts in the state. CM Fadnavis took responsibility for Maoist-affected Gadchiroli, and his two deputies, Shinde and Ajit Pawar, took charge of Thane and Mumbai City, and Pune.
Soon after the Maharashtra results were announced in November last year, and it became clear that Fadnavis, not Shinde, would return to the Mantralaya as chief minister, Shinde retreated to his village and claimed illness.
The names of the two guardian ministers for Raigad and Nashik announced Saturday led to the latest flashpoint in the Mahayuti government which came to power with a thumping majority last November.
The list assigned Raigad to the Nationalist Congress Party’s Aditi Tatkare (the state women and child welfare minister) and Nashik to BJP’s Girish Mahajan.
On Sunday, Shinde called up CM Fadnavis and convinced him to stay the appointments for Nashik and Raigad.
The state minister for the employment guarantee scheme of Maharashtra and four-time Shiv Sena MLA from Mahad in Raigad Bharatshet Gogawale was eyeing the post for himself.
Gogawale went public with his disappointment.
Claiming to be in shock, Gogawale had said, “I had the support of six MLAs, three each from the BJP and Shiv Sena. People of the district expected I would be appointed the guardian minister. I will speak with our leader (deputy CM Shinde) on this issue.”
The other Shiv Sena minister, Dadaji Bhuse, MLA from Outer Malegaon and minister in charge of the agriculture department, was in the race for Nashik district. Bhuse had earlier been guardian ministers for Dhule and Palghar districts.
The NCP too is unhappy after the name of Dhananjaya Munde, the state food and civil supplies minister, was dropped from the list of guardian ministers. When Shinde was the chief minister, Munde, the MLA from Parali in Beed, was the district’s guardian minister.
Munde came under fire from the opposition over the murder of a sarpanch in his home district in which his close associate, Walmik Karad was arrested.
The NCP’s Mushrif Hasan from Kolhapur is unhappy to be removed from being the guardian minister of his home district to that of Washim.
“I am the bhumiputra of Kolhapur,” Hasan said.
There are murmurs of discontentment even within Fadnavis’ own party.
The BJP MLA and environment minister Pankaja Munde, on being appointed guardian minister for Jalna, said she would have preferred Beed over Jalna.
“I am the daughter of Beed. The people of Beed would have been happy if I was appointed guardian minister,” she said.
Guardian ministers are appointed to oversee the development-related work in specific districts and act as a liaison between the central government and the district administration.
A minister or MLA can be a guardian minister for multiple districts. Under Shinde, Maharashtra had 20 guardian ministers, while Fadnavis in his third term as chief minister has raised the list to 36, though the fate of two is undecided.
Deputy CM Shinde denied he was upset at the appointments.
“Every time I come to my village, people say I am sulking. I am here for some development projects. As far as the issue of guardian ministers is concerned it will be resolved soon,” Shinde said at Satara on Monday.
The uneasiness within the Mahayuti camp appears to have brought some cheer to the opposition Mahavikas Aghadi (MVA) which is in tatters following its dismal performance in the state Assembly polls.
MVA leaders said that there was a plan to free Sena from the clutches of Eknath Shinde.
Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar Monday claimed that deputy CM Eknath Shinde might be dispensed with and Shiv Sena could see a new “Uday” (rise), an oblique reference to state minister Uday Samant. Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut followed him next, saying that Samant has the support of 20 Shiv Sena MLAs and when Deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde was sulking over the denial of CM post and plans were afoot to “introduce” Samant.
Samant denied any differences with his party leader Shinde, who heads the ruling Shiv Sena, and asserted attempts were being made to create a rift between them.
But former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray’s son and Worli MLA Aaditya Thackeray termed the rift within the Mahayuti government as “chaos and greed in the EVM sarkar,” and a sign that Fadnavis was in a difficult situation.
The opposition had alleged that elections to the state Assembly were heavily manipulated with changes in the voters list to ensure BJP’s return to power.
“Late last (Sunday) night a “stay” order was issued suddenly for the guardian ministries of Nashik and Raigad, while the CM is on foreign tour. It is surprising to see the CM give in to the pressure tactics of greedy politicians, who are already ministers but also want guardian ministries as per their own whims,” Thackeray wrote in a long post on X.
Aaditya said CM Fadnavis had given in to the bullying tactics of the allies despite having the numbers.
After last November’s state polls, the Mahayuti led by the BJP had won 235 of the 288 seats, with BJP alone bagging 132 seats, its best ever performance in the state.
“This is how the current BJP government is running, being bullied by some. While, citizens in Beed and Parbani are struggling for justice and the government turns a blind eye, greedy ministers are busy trying to grab more. This is an insult to the two ministers from whom the responsibility was snatched away,” Aaditya wrote.
