STATE CABINET LISTS 12 NAMES FOR UPPER HOUSE NOMINATION
About 300 from NCP, 50 from Congress and 15 from Shiv Sena have expressed their desire for nomination
The term of 12 legislators nominated by the government in the state council will expire in April. The state cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, will recommend a list of 12 new faces to Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari for nomination for a period of six years. The cabinet meeting, slated for Wednesday, has been rescheduled for Thursday.
The list of aspirants from the ruling partners Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress is said to be quite long. About 300 from NCP, 50 from Congress and 15 from Shiv Sena had evinced desire for their nomination to the upper house from the governor’s quota. As per the understanding amongst the three ruling partners, each will get 4 seats in the quota.
Some of the leading names doing the rounds in Shiv Sena included Thackeray’s close confidante
Milind Narvekar, former minister Sachin Ahir, former legislator Sunil Shinde, Yuva Sena leader Rahul Kanal, Vijay Karanjikar, Bhausaheb Chaudhary, Nitin Bangude Patil and former minister Arjun Khotkar.
NCP aspirants on the list included former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Eknath Khadse, Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana
Founder Raju Shetti, Uttamrao Jankar, Shivajirao Garje, Aditi Nalawade, Anand Shinde and Shriram Shete. Garje and Nalawade were recommended by NCP in December last year after two seats fell vacant. However, despite repeated correspondence, their nomination was not cleared by Raj Bhavan.
As far as Congress is concerned, the list includes party spokesman Sachin Sawant, Maharashtra Pradesh Youth Congress Chief and Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat’s nephew Satyajit Tambe, former legislator Mohan Joshi and former minister Naseem Khan.
A Maha Vikas Aghadi minister told Free Press Journal, “The governor is expected to act upon the government’s recommendation. Against the recent war of words between the CM and governor on the issue of reopening temples, the latter will not clear the names recommended by the cabinet.”
The ruling partners were unhappy about the time taken by the governor for nominating new members. However, Koshyari recently clarified that he had not received the government’s recommendations.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi government may recommend Bollywood actress Urmila Matondkar for nomination from the Gowrnor's quota in the state council. She had fought the Lok Sabha elections last year on a Congress ticket from North Mumbai, but had lost to BJP nominee Gopal Shetty.
Recently, Matondkar took on Kangana Ranaut after she likened Mumbai with Pakistan occupied Kashmir. Matondkar had left Congress complaining internal bickering and factionalism.