Maharashtra: Old saffron Cabinet back

The Cabinet expansion on Tuesday saw nine members each of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Eknath Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena take oath for the ministerrsquos office 39 days after the government was formed However criticism followed the event over the induction of tainted MLAs of the chief ministerrsquos group Sanjay Rathod and Abdul Sattar Together the 18 bring a lot of experience with them as the BJP and Shinde retained most ministers from previous cabinetsAll 18 ministers will be of Cabinet rank Some former juniors have been promoted The flip side was that the aspirants in waiting from both camps from the Shinde group in particular were left disappointed and hoping for the best in futureThe contentious portfolio distribution was pending but it could not be delayed as the expansion did because the ministers need to get hold of things before the monsoon session of the state legislature begins on August 17 The BJP and Shinde are vying for important portfolios such as home revenue finance urban development water resources energy rural development agriculture tribal development and social justiceTeam BJPAs reported correctly by midday the BJP picked its state unit president former minister Chandrakant Patil former ministers Sudhir Mungantiwar Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil Girish Mahajan Suresh Khade and former ministers of state Ravindra Chavan and Atul Save former minister in the NCPCongress government Vijaykumar Gavit and a senior MLA and partyrsquos Mumbai unit president Mangal Prabhat Lodha Vikhe the then opposition leader had quit the Congress to join the BJP four months before the 2019 Assembly elections He was made a minister in the last expansion of the Devendra Fadnavis government Khade and Save had also served as cabinet minister and junior minister respectively for a brief period in 2019Shindersquos listShinde preferred ministers from the Uddhav Thackeray government ndash Uday Samant Gulabrao Patil Dada Bhuse Sanjay Rathod and Sandipan Bhumre Abdul Sattar and Shambhuraj Desai former ministers of state Tanaji Sawant a senior minister in the Fadnavis cabinet and the grouprsquos spokesperson and former minister of state for home in the Fadnavis team Deepak KesarkarThackerayrsquos sitting ministers had joined Shinde in the revolt in June The hot contenders Bharat Gogawale and Sanjay Shirsat who were not considered this time are expected to be taken in the next expansionTo pick ministers from 51 MLAs has turned out to be exhaustive exercise for Shinde who spent Monday night and early Tuesday morning dealing with pressure that was mounted by the leftout MLAs including independents In the sharing formula for the remaining 23 vacancies in the council of ministers the BJP will get more than Shinde So far only 20 including the CM and Dy CM are in the team Neither BJP nor Shinde gave representation to women independents and smaller parties but they will be accommodated in the futureDy CM Devendra Fadnavis said the women MLAs will be taken in soon in the next expansion He said since the MVArsquos first team too did not have a woman the opposition held no right to criticise the new government Rathod Sattarrsquos induction slammedShindersquos choice of Sanjay Rathod who had resigned from the Uddhav Thackeray cabinet because his name was linked to the suicide of a woman in Pune evoked strong criticism Abdul Sattarrsquos entry was weighed against the allegations that his daughters and son had benefited from the teachersrsquo recruitment TET scamInterestingly the BJPrsquos vicepresident Chitra Wagh who had been leading the allegations against Rathod said that his induction was unfortunate and she would continue to fight in the court The BJP which had pressed for Rathodrsquos resignation said it was Waghrsquos personal opinionActivist Anjali Damania slammed the Shinde Sarkar She said all parties bore the same qualities when it came to covering up But Shinde defended Rathod saying that the Thackeray government had given the MLA a clean chit ldquoThe police have found nothing in their investigation in the caserdquo he saidAbout Sattarrsquos case the education department has claimed to have found no substance in the allegations The minister said the allegations were baseless because his three daughters got jobs when the present recruitment scheme was not in place Without naming Sattar Opposition leader Ajit Pawar said some names could have been reconsidered by ShindeNCPrsquos MP and Pawarrsquos cousin Supriya Sule had a different take on Rathod She said it was the BJP that ran a smear campaign against him and demanded his resignation even as the then MVA partners insisted that Rathod had nothing to do with the suicide ldquoIrsquom happy that Rathod has been made a minister But what about that woman who diedrdquo she askedChandrakant PatilState BJP president who was the number two minister holding many important portfolios like revenue PWD agriculture in the Fadnavis government The 63yearold hails from Kolhapur district but contested the 2019 Assembly election from Kothrud in Pune A die hard RSS loyalistSudhir MungantiwarA firebrand sixterm MLA who represented Chandrapur and now Ballapur he has served in the first 199599 and second BJPSena govts 201419 Born into an RSS family he is a perennial CM contender and led finance and forest departments in the Fadnavis regime He is the only BJP minister from VidarbhaRadhakrishna Vikhe PatilThe sixterm undefeated MLA who has always foreseen power shifts was a minister in the Shiv Sena and Congress govts before moving to the BJP in mid2019 He was the opposition leader then representing the Congress He quit and was soon drafted as the housing minister by Fadnavis Patil 63 represents Shirdi segment in Ahmednagar districtGirish MahajanFadnavisrsquos blueeyed boy who emerged as the main troubleshooter Mahajan beats others when it comes to protesting in the house He was suspended often but has friends across party lines His passion for providing healthcare services to the needy landed him the medical education department though he led the water resources departmentSuresh KhadeA Dalit face from Miraj constituency in Sangli district Khade 64 is an RSS and BJP loyalist who has successfully challenged the NCP and Congress in their fiefdoms since 2004 In the reshuffle ahead of the 2019 Assembly polls he was asked to lead the social justice department He missed the bus earlier despite a resounding win over the Congress and NCP in 2014Dr Vijaykumar GavitA tribal leader and teacherturnedpolitician Gavit 67 faced charges in a disproportionate assets case before joining BJP in 2014 He was sacked after his daughter Heena contested LS polls on a BJP ticket in 2014 from Nandurbar Now in BJP he won Assembly poll from Nandurbar same yearRavindra ChavanAt 51 the Dombivli MLA has become a cabinet minister after serving as a junior minister in the Fadnavis government He was a municipal councillor before winning the seat that is thickly populated by the BJPrsquos middle class supporters He hasnrsquot lost since 2009 and played an important role in winning the KalyanDombivli municipal polls for the BJPAtul SaveHe is the son of Moreshwar Save Shiv Senarsquos former Lok Sabha MP from Aurangabad who shifted to the BJP after developing differences with the Sena leadership which had sacked his father Save 60 represents Aurangabad east since 2014 The BJP has eyes on the city where it shared power with the Sena before parting waysMangal Prabhat LodhaA real estate baron from Mumbai Lodha 66 has been representing Malabar Hill since 1995 He comes from an RSS loyalist family that held top posts in judiciary and politics He made Mumbai his turf and succeeded in electoral politics but had to wait very long to get in the CabinetShindersquos SenaUday SamantThe last to join the rebel Shinde gang in Guwahati had always been tipped to retain his position He was higher and technical education minister in the MVA government The Ratnagiri representative has been winning since 2004 first two terms as the NCP worker and then as the SenarsquosGulabrao PatilThe Senarsquos most sought after campaigner shifted to Shinde after he failed to convince Thackeray Comes from Jalgaon Rural Assembly constituency He was a minister of state in the Fadnavis government and later promoted by Thackeray in the MVA formation He has contributed significantly to Senarsquos growth in KhandeshDada BhuseBhuse 58 represents Malegaon Outer segment since 2004 The farmerrsquos son sans a political background ended the dominance of the Congress loyalist Hire family and never looked back since 2004 He served as a junior minister between 2014 and 2019 He was made agriculture minister in the MVA governmentSanjay RathodA fourtime MLA since 2004 Digras Rathod belongs to the Banjara community Rathod 51 kept the Senarsquos saffron flag flying in central Vidarbharsquos cottonrich farm suicide belt of Yavatmal district He was given a clean chit in the suicide of a woman in Pune but Thackeray did not retain himSandipan BhumreBhumre 59 has been representing Paithan near Aurangabad since 1995 Defeated in 2009 he first became a minister in 2019 even as his juniors reaped perks of top positions He worked as a slip boy in a sugar factory which he led as its chairman after some yearsAbdul SattarThe former Congressman joined the Sena in 2018 Sattar 57 had already developed differences with the party that had made him a junior minister When it came to becoming Cabinet minister a controversy regarding his daughters and sonrsquos recruitment cropped upShambhuraj DesaiDesai 55 hails from Shindersquos native Satara district and represents Patan since 2004 A die hard sainik in the NCP and Congress stronghold Desai has been loyal to the Thackerays for long but changed his mind when a coup came up He was among the first batch and worked on others to join the rebellionTanaji SawantEducation and business baron Sawant 58 had shown his extraordinary skills in winning MLC polls from local bodies in Yavatmal which was unknown territory Knowing his prowess Thackeray had exported Sawant from Marathwada to VidarbhaDeepak KesarkarFormer minister of state for home in the Fadnavis team Kesarkar 67 is not a true blue sainik He came from the NCP and insists that he chose the Sena over the BJP He represents Sawantwadi that shares a state border with Goa 2009 onwards