E-Paper
Congress, NCP name mins for MVA coordination panel
The coordination committee of the ruling Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance is likely to be announced soon, with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress declaring the names of the ministers from their parties for the panel on Thursday.
After the MVA government assumed power in the state, the leadership of the three ruling parties – Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress – had announced the formation of two committees for better coordination between their leaders. While one committee would consist of ministers, the other may comprise senior party leaders, who are most likely not part of the cabinet.
According to sources in the Congress, the party wants the committee to be formed at the earliest, after its ministers expressed unhappiness over their counterparts in the Shiv Sena and NCP making announcements without consulting them.
The Congress has nominated revenue minister Balasaheb Thorat and public works department (PWD) minister Ashok Chavan for the committee, while the NCP has named irrigation minister Jayant Patil and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar.
The Sena has not announced any names yet, but is likely to choose two out of Subhash Desai, Eknath Shinde and Anil Parab.
“Ajit dada and I will be the members of the coordination committee from NCP. The committee will be formed for better coordination among the three parties [Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress] is yet to be decided,” confirmed Patil. The names were announced after NCP chief Sharad Pawar convened a meeting of senior leaders at the party’s Ballard Pier office.
The Congress declared Thorat and Chavan’s names after a meeting attended by its ministers, senior party leaders and All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary and Maharashtra in-charge Mallikarjun Kharge, at its Dadar office.
Party leaders were unhappy over NCP leaders’ visit to Indu Mills to inspect the ongoing work for the Dr BR Ambedkar memorial and tourism minister Aaditya Thackeray’s announcement of letting commercial establishments remain open 24x7, without taking the ministers from the other two parties into confidence. Party ministers also expressed their discontent over the announcements of schemes by NCP ministers for the departments held by the Congress.
Thorat later announced that a Congress delegation will also visit the Indu Mills soon. Chavan said the coordination committee will ensure there is no disharmony among the leaders in the three parties of the ruling alliance.
“To avoid any dissent [among the three parties], we have decided to raise these issues in the coordination committee. We have finalised our representatives on the committee,” said a senior party leader.