Mumbai: After much political hype and uncertainty, the Bharatiya Janata Party- Shiv Sena government finally underwent a reshuffle. Instead of cabinet expansion, the Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis chose to reshuffle his cabinet by dropping 6 ministers from council of ministers and inducting 13 new faces in the cabinet.
The Governor of Maharashtra C. Vidyasagar Rao administered the oath of office and secrecy to 8 Ministers and 5 Ministers of State at a swearing-in-ceremony held in the lawns of Raj Bhavan, Mumbai on Sunday.
Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, Jaydutt Kshirsagar, Ashish Shelar, Dr Sanjay Kute, Dr Suresh Khade, Dr Anil Bonde, Dr Ashok Uike and Tanaji Sawant were administered the oath as Cabinet Ministers.
Yogesh Sagar, Avinash Mahatekar, Sanjay alias Bala Bhegade, Parinay Phuke and Atul Save were sworn as Ministers of State in Sunday’s cabinet reshuffle. Thus, 10 from BJP, 2 from Sena and one from RPI were made ministers.
Sloganeering in ceremony
Except Mahatekar, all other ministers took oath in the name of God.The cabinet reshuffle ceremony witnessed sloganeering by political workers. When Jaydutt Kshirsagar, who recently joined Shiv Sena, reached on the dias to take oath , the ceremony witnessed the first sloganeering.
“Aawaz Kunacha, Shivsenecha (There is only one voice, that is of Shiv Sena),” was the slogan shouted loudly for the newcomer in Shiv Sena. Getting cue from Shiv Sena, BJP workers too shouted slogans for BJP. When BJP legislator Dr. Sanjay Kute was taking the oath, his workers shouted the slogans -” Gajanan Maharaj ki Jai.’’
Gajanan Maharaj was the religious saint whose temple at Shegaon in Buldana district falls under Dr. Kute’s Assembly constituency. Another BJP legislator Dr. Anil Bonde too was greeted by “Awaaz Kunacha, BJPcha,” slogans.
When RPI leader Avinash Mahatekar took oath slogans for Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, Ramdas Athwale were given. “ Aala re Aala, Mavalcha Wagh aala , Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Ki Jai, Guru Sant Tukaram Ki Jai,” were the slogans chanted for Sanjay Bhegde, legislator from Maval. Atul Save legislator from Aurangabad was greeted by slogans like “ Ganpati Bappa Moraya, Jay Jyoti.”
Cabinet minister |
Six ministers dropped
The list of dropped six ministers include 3 cabinet ministers and 3 minister of state. Sensing the ire of opposition over MP Mill land scam, Fadnavis chose to get rid of Housing Minister Prakash Mehta.
Social Justice minister and prominent dalit face of cabinet Rajkumar Badole was shown the exit door. Tribal Affairs Minister, Vishnu Sawra too was dropped. MOS Tribal Affairs Ambarish Raje Atram, MOS Industry Pravin Pote Patil, MOS Social Justice Dilip Kamble were shunted from the cabinet.
Atram is infamous for not attending Mantralaya and Legislature work. Out of the six, three ministers are from Vidarbha region. As the dropped ministers list include two tribal and two Dalit faces, opposition criticised Fadnavis and termed his govt as anti-backward castes.
”Out of the six leaders removed from the cabinet, four are from Scheduled Caste and Scheduled tribe. This shows this govt is anti- backward community,’’ criticised Ajit Pawar, former Deputy CM.
Minister Of State |
Council strength increased
At the time of reshuffle, the council of ministers led by Devendra Fadnavis was having 36 ministers which include 20 Cabinet and 16 Ministers of State.
After dropping of 6 ministers and induction of 13 new faces, the strength of reshuffled council of ministers is now 45, showing net increase of 9 ministers. The new council has 27 ministers and 18 ministers of state.
Finally RPI got entry
Ramdas Athawale, senior Dalit leader and MOS in Narendra Modi cabinet was continuously pitching in for inclusion of his close confidante leaders into the cabinet.
Hence, just before the last 4 months of the Fadnavis government, his closest associate Avinash Mahatekar finally got a chance to work in the government as Minister of State in Cabinet. This may help RPI and BJP-Sena too to woo dalit voters especially followers of Athawale.
3 mins sans membership
There are 3 ministers who are not members of any house of legislature. Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, Jaydutt Kshirsagar and Avinash Mahatekar are not members of Assembly or Council.
Vikhe and Kshirsagar were Members of Legislative Council but chose to resign to join BJP and Sena respectively. Mahatekar is senior leader of RPI who has never been member of any house.
