Cabinet expansion: Uneasiness in Shinde camp, unrest among BJP

MUMBAI: It has been a month since chief minister Eknath Shinde and deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis were sworn-in but things are not exactly hunky-dory in both camps as cabinet expansion is yet to take place.

There has been unrest with a large number of aspirants for ministerial berths. The rebel MLAs are also wary with uncertainty over their future due to pending petitions over the split in Sena in the Supreme Court as well as the bid of Uddhav Thackeray to revive the party organisation by hitting the ground. In BJP, there is resentment among loyal party MLAs who are not happy over the “outsiders” who joined the party in the past few years getting preference while picking the ministers.

With the names of turncoats like Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, Ganesh Naik and Pravin Darekar who joined the BJP in the last few years, making rounds for the inclusion in the cabinet from the party quota, the party loyalists have started raising questions about whether they will get adequate representation in power.

“It is true that the outsiders have been getting preference in power not only in the state but also at the national level. Of the four ministers inducted from Maharashtra into the Modi cabinet last year, three (Narayan Rane, Kapil Patil and Bharti Pawar) were outsiders and only Bhagwat Karad was an old BJP hand. Similarly, the names that are making rounds as probable for the cabinet are ‘outsiders’. The issue has been raised at the appropriate forum and we expect it to be resolved by the party leadership. There will be a reaction after the expansion of the cabinet if the loyal legislators do not get due representation,” said a senior party leader from Mumbai.

Darekar, Vikhe-Patil and Navi Mumbai heavyweight politician

Ganesh Naik are likely to be made ministers from the BJP quota. Darekar joined the party in 2015 and was made leader of the opposition in 2019. VikhePatil and Naik joined the BJP ahead of the elections in 2019.

Fadnavis last week told party workers and leaders during the state executive meeting in Panvel that they should not keep expectations for the inclusion in cabinet or nomination to the legislative council.

Maharashtra BJP’s vice president Madhav Bhandari said, “There are no differences or uneasiness within the unit over the political rewards. All our leaders and workers know the situation in which the new government has come into existence and they all are ready to accept it. The reports about the rift within the state unit are baseless.”

HT PHOTO MLAs have been waiting for cabinet expansion.