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Will Pune retain 3 slots in Eknath Shinde cabinet?
BJP workers are hoping at least three legislators from Pune district will be made ministers in thenew cabinet
With nine out of 21 MLAs from Pune district being from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), there are many hoping to find place in the upcoming expansion of cabinet led by chief minister Eknath Shinde who was sworn in Thursday evening.
In the Uddhav Thackeray-led state cabinet, there were three ministers from Pune district, including deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, home minister Dilip Walse-Patil, and minister of state for forests Datta Bharne. While Shinde will now helm the cabinet and Devendra Fadnavis as his deputy, the Sena does not have any representation from Pune because of which alliance partner BJP is hoping to get all the cabinet berths from Pune. Among the hopefuls from the BJP are state unit chief Chandrakant Patil; third-time MLA Madhuri Misal from Pune; Mahesh Landge from Pimpri-Chinchwad; and Rahul Kul from the rural parts of Pune, according to their supporters. From western Maharashtra, BJP leaders Shivendraraje Bhosale of Satara, Vijay Deshmukh from Solapur, and Gopichand Padalkar of Sangli are also in the race. From the Shiv Sena, ministers in the outgoing cabinet Shambhuraje Desai and Rajendra Patil-Yadravkar are likely to retain their positions.
A senior leader of BJP from Mumbai said requesting anonymity that, “Decision to include ministers in the cabinet will be entirely of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde in consultation with Devendra Fadnavis. In outr party, we follow orders that come from top. The way Fadnavis accepted Deputy CM’s post is an example of that.”
Chandrakant Patil – who hails from Kolhapur and was a minister in the Devendra Fadnavis-helmed state cabinet from 2014 to 2019 – was elected MLA from Kothrud, Pune, in 2019. Misal, a three-time MLA from Parvati, was the city unit chief and is currently the chief whip besides being in charge of Pimpri-Chinchwad. While Laxman Jagtap, BJP MLA from Chinchwad would have been a contender, he has been unwell for the past few months. Landge, a two-term MLA from Bhosari, Pimpri-Chinchwad, was a wrestler before he joined politics. His was a sizeable contribution in the party’s win during the 2017 civic elections in PCMC, which is once again going to polls in the next few months.
Party workers and office-bearers said that they are hoping at least three legislators from Pune district will be made ministers in the new cabinet. The BJP is trying hard to retain power in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) which will also go to polls along with other major civic bodies in Maharashtra.
Chandrakant Patil as BJP state unit president is likely to get a good portfolio given his equation with Fadnavis and Amit Shah in Delhi. If Patil is made a part of the cabinet, he may step down as state unit chief and the BJP will have to find another leader to head its state unit considering the party’s policy of one person-one position. As a minister, Patil can either be the guardian minister of Pune or Kolhapur.
Pune city is key for the BJP considering that six out of eight MLAs are from the city this time. From 2014 to 2019, two legislators from Pune city – Girish Bapat and Dilip Kamble - and two from the rural parts of the district – Vijay Shivtare and Sanjay Begde - managed to secure cabinet berths as ministers. Both Shivtare and Begde lost the elections in 2019.
Of the 21 MLAs from Pune district this time, 10 legislators are from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP); two from the Congress; and nine from the BJP. Many BJP office-workers are also claiming that if Kasba peth MLA Mukta Tilak’s health was good, the central leadership would have given her at least a minister of state post considering her surname but now the chances are less.
