Out-of-towners on Uddhav Thackeray's new team

In the new Maha Vikas Aghadis cabinet announced on Monday there were a mix of those from the city and those from elsewhere in the state Here are brief profiles of nonMumbaikars on the chief ministers new CabinetAjit Pawar A record fourtime deputy chief minister whose induction means the binding of NCP would go unaffected The Maratha leaders rebellion a month ago had rocked the NCP boat but a meticulous maneuvering by family head Sharad Pawar had him back in the fold Undisputed champion of Baramati and a nononsense administrator he will be the NCPs loud voice in the MVA government and may even be a cause for flashpoints between the constituentsAshok Chavan Maharashtra did not have many former CMs working as cabinet ministers in other teams Congress has given him a berth to infuse experience in the khichdi team that has full of diverse views and working styles His role in decisionmaking should be checkmating the competition in MVA A Maratha representing MarathwadaGulabrao Patil Senas firebrand orator from North Maharashtra who competes with BJPs powerful local leaders Promoted to the Cabinet rank Patil is an OBC who can play a major role in expanding the party in the regionUday Samant Hailing from Ratnagiri he will be Senas Konkan mascot MoS of housing in the previous government he will now head departments as a senior minister His promotion will be seen as a demotion of senior Sena leaders in the regionSanjay Rathod Senas Vidarbha warrior has been rewarded with a promotion to the Cabinet A Banjara NT by caste he will have to go beyond his constituency and build the party wrestling against three other major parties of which the Congress and BJP hold sway in the region which had a record number of senior ministers in the previous ministersDada Bhuse A lowprofile Shiv Sainik from a minoritydominated Malegaon region has been promoted from an MoS rank A diehard Sena worker who rose from the lower level is partys new powerhouse in the Nashik districtSandipan Bhumre He comes from a sensitive Aurangabad region where the Sena BJP and AIMIM are major players in the power struggle He has been inducted as a Cabinet minister as some seniors lost the last elections in MarathwadaShambhuraje Desai His prolonged wait has ended with an MoS berth A descendant of a Maratha generals family he holds Patan in Satara where politics is the way of life A studious MLA who has been raising issues of public importance will be faced with a challenge to get the job done though he will have not much powerAbdul Sattar He quit Congress which had made him a junior minister in the Ashok Chavan team a decade ago to join the Sena ahead of Assembly polls He took no time to adapt the Sena ways of aggressive politics and has found favour with the Thackerays Sena had made a Muslim a minister 20 years ago Sattars appointment has added to Senas newfound secular attributeShankarrao Gadakh Senas small ally comes from Ahmednagar district where Sena suffered some significant losses in the recent polls Having inherited politics from his father he will have to act more like Sainik than a leader of a local frontBacchu Kadu The fourtime MLA is also Senas ally He heads a social organisation called Prahar through which he stages novel protests and has invited the ire of administration when his individual conduct was uncalled for His is a different brand that also won yet another MLA from Amravati district Independent charge means he will be as powerful as a Cabinet ministerRajendra Patil Yadravkar His induction as MoS Independent charge will cause heartburn to Senas MLAs in Kolhapur district because he is an NCP rebel who beat a Sena candidate in 2019 elections from ShirolaDilip Walse Patil Former speaker and minister he is Sharad Pawars close aide who in fact did a political internship by working as personal assistant to the former union minister and exCM He has headed several important departments in the previous NCPCongress government Seen as a sane and learned voice he should be the ears and eyes of the party bossDhananjay Munde A BJP import has made it big in the NCP in a short time Ajit Pawars Man Friday has worked as an opposition leader in the upper house in an appealing style launching attacks after attacks on the BJP government His entry should be seen as Ajits upper handHassan Mushrif NCPs Muslim strongman from South Maharashtra Kolhapur He is a popular face that brings a lot of experience to the MVA government in which his party is expected to have more say than the other two partiesAnil Deshmukh NCPs sole face in Vidarbha who started as an independent MLA and MoS in the first BJPSena government before joining the NCP He served 15 years as minister thereafter and was beaten in 2014 but bounced back in October to be one of the most experienced ministers in the Thackeray teamAditi Tatkare Of the 26 new faces in NCP she belongs to the youth brigade having an experience of heading Raigad ZP She inherited politics from father and MP Sunil Tatkare who is Ajit Pawars favourite associate She is mentored by Ajit and her father and won the partys preference over many male young competitorsPrajakta Tanpure His exMLAMP father and mother who is senior minister Jayant Patils sister are his strength The city council president of Rahuri he is a mechanical engineer who his uncle and Ajit Pawar wanted in their team though senior Pawar wanted some other MLA from Ahmednagar districtSanjay Bansode An NCP leader belonging to the Dalit community he represents Udgir in Marathwadas Latur district where Congress and BJP are stronger than NCP and Sena When Ajit Pawar rebelled and had some MLAs flown to other cities Bansode was brought back from the Mumbai airport to meet the party presidentKC Padvi The Gandhi family loyalist represents STdominated Akkalkuwa segment in North Maharashtras tribal belt of Nandurbar His entry in the Cabinet will result in overshadowing of other tribal leaders of the CongressVijay Wadettiwar The former SainikturnedCongressman was an MoS and then made opposition leader after Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil quit the Congress He represents eastern Vidarbha where BJP suffered a significant dent two months agoSunil Kedar He realised his dream of becoming a minister after 20 years after serving as an MoS in the SenaBJP first government as an independent MLA He had quit then and joined Congress He has kept Saoner near Nagpur undefeated for the Congress ever since When MVA was in the making Kedar had categorically told the high command that the Congress MLAs would form a separate group if their party did not join the government Aggressive and hyperactive Kedar will be a man to watch out forAmit Deshmukh He and his brother Dheeraj restored the Congress prestige in Latur this year He was a Cabinet minister for a brief time before the Congress went to polls in 2014 The elder son of late CM Vilasrao Deshmukh he has earned the berth by virtue of the legacy and good workYashomati Thakur Yet another senior minister from Vidarbha she is working president of Congress and one of the most vocal and learned MLAs She enjoys good rapport with the Delhi bosses and has shown flashes of political brilliance when neededSatej Patil He may complain of injustice because the promotion to the Cabinet rank has evaded him He was one of most powerful junior ministers in the Prithviraj Chavan team and actually experimented an MVAlike move in Kolhapur in reviving the partys prospectsVishwajeet Kadam The son of a Congress loyalist late Patangrao Kadam he represents the fathers segment in Sangli district He has inherited an educational empire and bears the responsibility of running the party in that part of western Maharashtra where NCP stalwarts play handballCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates