Discontent among Maharashtra allies over portfolios

A day after chief minister Uddhav Thackeray finalised the allocation of portfolios, many from the three ruling parties — the Shiv Sena, Congress and Nationalist

A day after chief minister Uddhav Thackeray finalised the allocation of portfolios, many from the three ruling parties — the Shiv Sena, Congress and Nationalist Congress Party — were heard voicing their discontent.

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The allocation of the portfolios took place five days after the Thackeray government announced the expansion of the cabinet. Congress, which had been demanding key portfolios like agriculture, which are directly related to people, claimed they were given a raw deal and a section of leaders blamed the state leadership. The party got three additional portfolios instead of agriculture — sports and youth welfare, salt pan land and ports — which are assumed to be relatively insignificant. “Nitin Raut and Vijay Wadettiwar who’ve been made energy and OBC ministers, respectively, were eyeing more lucrative departments. Raut was expecting to get public works department. However, nobody has openly expressed displeasure,” said a Congress leader.

Senior NCP leaders, including Dilip Walse-Patil, Nawab Malik and Chhagan Bhujbal, too, were reportedly trying to get lucrative departments. Eyebrows were raised when Anil Deshmukh was picked for the home minister’s post, over other key leaders such as Jayant Patil and Walse-Patil.

Many Sena legislators like Sunil Raut and Bhaskar Jadhav had expressed their discontent for not finding place in the cabinet. Minister of state and Sena leader from Marathwada, Abdul Sattar, too, had reportedly threatened to resign for not being made a cabinet minister. Sattar later said reports about his resignation were rumours. The differences within the Marathwada unit of the party came to the fore during the district council polls. “Sattar was told on Sunday that infighting and anti-party activities won’t be tolerated, and leaders at the local level are expected to work in the interest of the alliance,” said a Sena leader.