The much-talked about reshuffle is expected sooner than later
Technocrat-politician Prithviraj Chavan completed two yearsas Chief Minister of Maharashtra on Sunday – but a major challenge awaits him –reshuffle of his council-of-ministers and preparations for the 2014 Lok Sabhaand Vidhan Sabha polls.
It has not been an easy sailing for Chavan, 66, a seniorCongress leader, who had earlier been Minister of State in Prime Minister’sOffice. Although he has managed to ensure a transparent administration he hasfaced the ire of various political parties. He has faced criticism from his ownalliance partner, the Sharad Pawar-led NCP and also Opposition parties.
Now, the much-talked about reshuffle is expected. There havebeen talks about it for one year now, but now it appears – according to sources– that Chavan may affect a reshuffle ahead of the winter session of MaharashtraLegislature, which is held in Nagpur.
Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar of the NCP, who held theportfolios of Finance, Planning and Energy, has resigned in the wake ofallegations in the irrigation scam – leading to a sort of political crisis.Pawar earlier headed the Irrigation Ministry – which has now been rechristenedthe Water Resources ministry.
Following his resignation, the Finance and Planningministries were allocated to Jayant Patil, who is the Rural DevelopmentMinister and Energy to Higher Education Minister Rajesh Tope. On the advice ofPawar and NCP General Secretary and Union Heavy Industries Minister PrafulPatel -- the post of Deputy Chief Minister – has been kept vacant for the timebeing.
Several ministers in his cabinet face allegations – SchoolEducation Minister Rajendra Darda (Congress) in the coal scam, Public WorksDepartment and Tourism Minister Chhagan Bhujbal (NCP) in the FSI scam and WaterResources Minister Sunil Tatkare (NCP) for links of his family members withbogus companies and the irrigation scam.
“If the reshuffle takes place, there would be changes in theCongress as well as NCP ministries,” sources in the Democratic Front said, butChavan has to do a lot of balancing act.
In the last couple of months – Chavan had visited severaltimes to New Delhi to meet Congress President and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhiand Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh – and also held parlays with Pawar senior.
“A reshuffle is needed.....it has been delayed for long. Ifthe parties (NCP and Congress) want to go together in the next elections, it isimperative that a reshuffle takes place,” informed sources said.
The last few days also saw a war of words betweenMaharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee chief Manikrao Thakre and state NCPchief Madhukar Pichad.
It is to be mentioned here that Maharashtra got a raw dealin the Union Cabinet expansion-cum-reshuffle carried out last month by Dr Singhnot giving any new representation to the state. The development came as a bigletdown for the ruling Congress functionaries in Maharashtra, a state that wasbestowed with as many as 10 ministerial berths in the Manmohan Singh cabinetafter the 2004 Lok Sabha polls.
Currently, there are three Cabinet ministers –Sharad Pawar,Praful Patel, both of the NCP and Sushil Kumar Shinde of the Congress – andfour ministers of state – Pratik Patil, Rajiv Shukla, Milind Deora, all of theCongress, and Tariq Anwar of the NCP from Maharashtra, in the Unionministry. Though Anwar is a new face inthe Union Cabinet, he is not from Maharashtra – despite having been elected toRajya Sabha from the state. Same is the case with Shukla, who has for quitesome time been a minister in the Manmohan Singh Cabinet.There were expectationsin the ruling Congress circles that the Prime Minister would accommodate new orfamiliar political faces from Maharashtra so as to fill vacancies created bythe resignation of Gurudas Kamat from the Cabinet in July 2011, sudden death ofVilasrao Deshmukh on August 14 this year and the quitting of Mukul Wasnik in the immediate run-up to the latest Cabinetexpansion-cum-reshuffle.
Under the 23:20 ministry sharing formula that exists betweenthe ruling DF partners, the NCP has already its quota of 20 ministers in thestate Cabinet, while there are currently 20 Congress ministers in Chavan'steam. This in essence, means that the Congress, which is the senior partner inthe DF, can have three more ministers in the State Cabinet.
“Apart from droppinga few inefficient Congress ministers and bringing in some new faces, the chiefminister will in likelihood add three more party ministers into his team, so asto fill the total quota of 23 party ministers in his Cabinet,” sources said.
In the last two years, Chavan managed to sail through. Someother crisis include the July 13, 2011 blasts in Mumbai, August 1, 2012 blastsin Pune and the June 21, 2012 fire at Mantralaya, in which three floors weregutted. He also handled the drought and scarcity-like situation in severalparts of the district, earlier this year – and the August 11, 2012 mob-violencein the Azad Maidan-Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus area and contained thesituation within a matter of few hours.
“He had handled all the crisis successfully....when hearrived here he was a man in touch with the national politics but in these twoyears he has adapted himself to Maharashtra politics,” political observers saidon the eve of his two years in office.
As far as work is concerned, he has given a major boost tothe infrastructure development of Mumbai and himself regularly takes stock ofthe works of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA).These include the Mumbai Metro Rail, Mumbai Mono Rail, giving a push to projectslike the proposed Mumbai Trans Harbour Link. He also cleared the much-awaitedPune Metro Rail project and secured clearance from New Delhi for the proposedNavi Mumbai International Airport and the Jaitapur Nuclear Power Park project.
One of the major decisions that was taken was that the leaseperiod for Mumbai would be maximum 30 years instead of 50 years, 99 years or999 years, with effect from January 1, 2012 – and the new rents would bedecided as per the current ready recokner. Chavan and his senior Cabinetcolleagues and his team of bureaucrats are also working on a new Industriespolicy for Maharashtra.
