MUMBAI: In the brief history of CM Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, a moment came months ago: prominent leaders, then in the ruling Sena and tied to the MVA, revolted, saying the then finance minister Ajit Pawar had deprived them of development funds. The noise made little impact.
Fast-forward to Friday.
The Shinde government chose the same Ajit Pawar to head the finance and planning ministry amid strong objections from the chief minister’s loyalist MLAs. Political grapevine has it that on Friday, top BJP leadership told Shinde that it was a part of the “deal” with the NCP to allocate finance to Ajit Pawar.
Deepak Kesarkar, a Shiv Sena minister, said the finance ministry is with Ajit Pawar, but the final decision will be taken by Shinde. “That’s why we are not much concerned,” he said.
The Friday reallocation of ministries was done in a manner that not only saw Shiv Sena ministers losing key portfolios but also some BJP ministers who too lost their key positions at the cost of NCP ministers.
NCP’s Dhananjay Munde got the agriculture ministry. In the earlier MVA government, the close aide of Ajit Pawar had a low-key portfolio of social justice. NCP minister Chhagan Bhujbal has got the food and civil supply ministry while another NCP minister Dilip Walse Patil will now head the cooperation ministry that will help his party to control and retain its cooperative-related vote bank in western Maharashtra.
Hasan Mushriff, another NCP minister, got the medical education ministry while Dharma Baba Atram bagged the food and drugs ministry.
The only woman NCP minister Aditi Tatkare heads the women and child development ministry and NCP’s Anil Patil has got rehabilitation and disaster management.
On July 2, senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar and eight other legislators of his party took oath as ministers in the Maharashtra government.
The surprise move led to a split in the Sharad Pawar-led outfit.
(With additional inputs from Online Desk)