Maharashtra’s 8-18 cabinet plan in ‘RELIGIOUS’ DILEMMA?

Mumbai: The Maharashtra council of ministers expanded ten-fold from two (Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis) to 20 on Tuesday, after the planned lean addition of 13 inductees (teen-tera plan) on August 03 was shelved. Unrest within CM Shinde’s camp of 50 MLAs insisting upon ministerial accommodation saw the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) conceding to a 50:50 expansion plan despite having 115 of its own MLAs and independents to look out for. As predicted by this newspaper, the BJP has matched Shinde with state BJP President Chandrakant Patil, the former revenue minister of the previous BJPled government (between 2014 and 2019).

Dissatisfaction with the cabinet was prevalent right after the swearing-in ceremony, with the independent 3-MLA party leader Bachu Kadu insisting on his pound of flesh and securing a cabinet berth for himself. Shinde and Fadnavis assuaged Kadu’s feelings with the promise of a ministerial berth by September (when 22 more inductions are slated). However, that would entail a religious challenge of auspicious timing. “The September plan runs into the 10- day Ganesh Chaturthi festival as well as 15 days of Pitrupaksha, followed by nine days of Navratri ending on Dussehra, thereby ruling out fresh inductions till October. The expansion must be done by August-end, immediately after the conclusion of the Monsoon Session of the state legislature starting August 17,” said a senior BJP leader.

The induction of Sadabhau Khot (rebel-Sena MLA) immediately sparked off protest from BJP’s women’s wing chief Chitra Wagh (another ministerial aspirant), who pursued a public crusade against him, then minister in the erstwhile MVA government led by Uddhav Thackeray. Thackeray had procured his resignation over the suicide death of a woman in Pune, Khot’s close acquaintance. As reported by this newspaper, Abdul Sattar made the cabinet cut despite efforts to sabotage his appointment through a news media campaign on Monday. Former minister in the Fadnavis-led government (2014-2019) Girish Mahajan also found a place in the new council of ministers after visiting Union Home Minister Amit Shah a few days back (as reported by First India).

Former finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar also joined the cabinet of ministers. Other inductees in this cabinet expansion include Vijaykumar Gavit, Gulabrao Patil, Dada Bhuse, Suresh Kade, Sandipan Bumre (former minister in MVA), Uday Samant (former MVA minister), Tanaji Sawant, Ravindra Chavan, Deepak Kesarkar, Atul Save, Shambhuraj Desai (former MVA minister) and Mangalprabhat Lodha.