AGENCY
NEW DELHI, Jan 21
Shiv Sena led by Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde is upset over the allocation of guardian ministership to members of Maharashtra cabinet. Two senior Shiv Sena ministers—Education Minister Dadaji Bhuse and Employment Guarantee Scheme Minister Bharat Gogavale—were denied guardian ministership of Nashik and Raigad districts respectively despite Eknath Shinde strongly supporting their candidature.
According to reports, the appointment of guardian ministers for Nashik and Raigad—Girish Mahajan of BJP and Aditi Tatkare of NCP—has been stayed following instructions from Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis who is at Davos to attend World Economic Forum.
Gogavale had made guardian ministership of Raigad a prestige issue. He represents Mahad constituency in Raigad district. The district has been a battleground for Shinde-led Sena and NCP state president and MP Sunil Tatkare who is with Ajit Pawar. During Eknath Shinde’s tenure as chief minister, Tatkare’s daughter Aditi was made guardian minister for Raigad and Gogavale, who was not in the cabinet then, had strongly opposed it. So, after Mahayuti’s grand victory in assembly elections, Gogavale became a minister from Shiv Sena’s quota. He was obviously hoping to become guardian minister of Raigad but that did not happen. It upset his supporters so much that they blocked the Mumbai-Goa highway for couple of hours on Sunday and burnt tyres on the road.
Responding to the situation, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray asked whether CM Fadnavis had become so helpless that he had to stay the appointments of guardian ministers. He also said that the minister whose supporters blocked the road and burnt tyres should ideally be removed from ministership. “They don’t want to become Palak Mantri (guardian minister)of the district; they want to become Malik Mantri (minister who owns the district),” Aaditya Thackeray said.
Dadaji Bhuse was also expecting to be made guardian minister of Nashik but that too did not happen and it has upset him. Bhuse represents Malegaon Outer assembly segment from Nashik district. He was guardian minister for Nashik in Eknath Shinde-led government.
The importance of becoming guardian minister of home district (the district to which the said minister belongs) is one of the top agendas of ministers these days as the guardian minister gets to control District Planning and Development Committee (DPDC), which controls all the development works. Funds are channelled through DPDC, and so, the guardian minister gets to become the top boss in the district to control welfare programmes and development works in the district.
As the CM has gone abroad, Shinde has chosen to travel to Dare Tamb, his native village in Satara district. It would be interesting to see now whether Fadnavis succumbs to pressure from Shinde-led Sena and awards Bhuse and Gogavale guardian ministership for Nashik and Raigad districts.
