Another late night meeting is reportedly being held at Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's residence regarding the much awaited cabinet expansion in the Maharashtra government. This is the third such meeting in series of meetings which have not been successful in solving the logjam.
Both deputies of CM Shinde, Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar, are present for the meeting.
While more than a week has passed since Nine NCP MLAs were inducted into the Maharashtra cabinet under Eknath Shinde, the long-awaited cabinet expansion and portfolio allocation are still pending. Chief Minister Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis have repeatedly assured MLAs of the Shiv Sena and BJP, respectively, that the expansion will take place "very soon."
Industries Minister Uday Samant on Monday even said that the expansion would take place in matter of few hours.
However, deadlines keep getting extended, leading to restlessness among the MLAs. The two main reasons cited for the delay are the pending reshuffle of the Union cabinet and differences among the coalition partners regarding the allocation of finance and cooperation ministries.
Logjam over two ministries delaying cabinet expansion
Another significant reason for the delay is the differences over power sharing within the ruling coalition. Although it seemed last week that Shinde, Fadnavis, and Pawar had reached an agreement and portfolio allocation would be done over the weekend, it is now being said that the NCP's insistence on getting the finance and cooperation portfolios, and the BJP's reluctance, is complicating matters.
Legislators in the Shinde camp are concerned that if Ajit Pawar is given the finance portfolio, he may not allocate adequate funds for the development of their constituencies, as has happened in the past. Despite CM Shinde's attempts to persuade them to let Pawar have the finance portfolio, some of his MLAs remain wary.
NCP insists on having cooperation ministry
Sources also reveal that the NCP is insisting on having the cooperation portfolio as well, but the BJP is unwilling to part with it. The NCP wields its power, especially in the rural areas of Maharashtra, through a tightly knit web of cooperative institutions, ranging from credit societies to banks and sugar mills. The BJP is reluctant to allow them to have control over this ministry. Furthermore, at the Centre, a strong leader like Amit Shah is overseeing the newly formed ministry, and he too would be unwilling to let any other party encroach on his territory.
