MVA govt: Sena minister’s drama

Amid the portfolio allocation, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray faced another trouble on Saturday as party minister Abdul Sattar sought to resign. After pacifying

Amid the portfolio allocation, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray faced another trouble on Saturday as party minister Abdul Sattar sought to resign. After pacifying Sattar, Sena leaders said he has not tendered his resignation and would meet the CM on Sunday.

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Sattar, a minister of state in the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government, has been unhappy about not being made a cabinet minister, and was further angry with the party’s decision to support the Congress in district council president election in Aurangabad. He had crossed over to the Sena from the Congress in September 2019, ahead of the state polls in October. The district council president election led to an open fight between Sena leader Chandrakant Khaire and Sattar, with Khaire calling the latter a “traitor” for helping the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) get its vice-president elected in the Aurangabad zilla parishad polls.

The Sena immediately went into damage control mode, deputing party’s Arjun Khotkar to pacify Sattar, who, after two rounds of meetings in Aurangabad and a telephonic conversation with Sena leader and minister Eknath Shinde, decided not to proceed with his plan of resigning. Khotkar said, “Abdul Sattar has not tendered his resignation; these are rumours. He will meet Uddhav ji at Matoshree on Sunday afternoon.” Sena insiders said Sattar could be making a bid to get a plum portfolio as the junior minister.

In the Aurangabad district council president elections, Sattar did not vote along party lines. Although the Congress’s candidate was elected with support from the Sena, the BJP got its candidate elected as the vice-president due to division of votes. “Sattar does not have the right to be a minister of state. He is a traitor. He went and voted against the party and alliance. I have asked saheb (Uddhav Thackeray) to take action against him. He should not be allowed to enter the pious Matoshree,” Khaire said.

Sattar emerged to face the media on Saturday evening, but did not comment on the issue. “I will answer all your questions after speaking to Thackeray. Details of who said what about me will be presented before Uddhav ji tomorrow,” he said in Aurangabad. Sattar also refused to confirm if he had resigned. “You go and ask the person who spread this news about me resigning. I will not respond,” he said.

In the list of portfolio allocation out late on Saturday evening, Sattar was made MoS revenue.

The political drama is seen as a setback for the Sena and the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government. Many within the Sena, including Ramdas Kadam, Bhaskar Jadhav, etc., are upset about being overlooked, and two junior minister posts being given to three independent MLAs in the cabinet expansion held on December 30. Not just the Sena, the Congress is also facing the issue with its Jalna MLA Kailash Gorantyal publicly expressing his unhappiness over not being given a ministerial berth. It is said that Gorantyal is planning to resign, along with many office-bearers. Gorantyal said the decision was taken at a meeting of the district Congress committee on Saturday. “I will meet Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president Balasaheb Thorat and submit my resignation from party posts. Party members of the Jalna Municipal Council, Zilla Parishad will also submit their resignations along with me,” he said. Sena leader Sanjay Raut said he was not aware of Sattar’s resignation, but added, “The Sena does not have many portfolios in its quota. Everybody has to adjust. According to me, the CM has given respect to Abdul Sattar ji and made him a minister. Those who are upset [over not being made ministers] are not originally from the Sena. They will take time to adjust to the system.” The statement from Raut is seen as a jibe at Sattar and Bhaskar Jadhav, Sena MLA from Guhagar, who openly said that Thackeray did not keep his word.

Meanwhile, the BJP latched on the delay in portfolio allocation and the ongoing tug-of-war for departments. Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis in Washim said, “There was no cabinet expansion for over a month. Now nearly a week after expansion, there are no signs of portfolio allocation. Everybody is after plum portfolios, no one cares about you. It’s the beginning of the downfall of the government.”