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Saamana questions NCP pick for home dept
The Shiv Sena, in its mouthpiece Saamana on Monday, questioned the Nationalist Congress Party’s (NCP) choice – Anil Deshmukh – for a “risky” department like home.
The Shiv Sena, in its mouthpiece Saamana on Monday, questioned the Nationalist Congress Party’s (NCP) choice – Anil Deshmukh – for a “risky” department like home.
In an editorial, the Sena said NCP chief Sharad Pawar had said no one in the party was open to take up the reins of the home department. “Home department is risky work. In the past few years, RR Patil, Jayant Patil, [Chhagan] Bhujbal, etc have handled it. In the BJP government, chief minister Fadnavis had kept this sword with himself, and in the end, it injured him. Despite having the home department, many protests and issues erupted... the department is risky. Honestly, Ajit Pawar or Dilip Walse-Patil were capable to handle the role, but Pawar gave the role to Vidarbha [Deshmukh is from Nagpur]. We will know if Pawar’s new experiment is successful or not,” the editorial said.
The Sena also trained its guns on Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari over the delay in approving the portfolio allocation on Saturday. It said that the Governor “kept the doors of Raj Bhavan open through the night to administer oath to Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar”, but “did not sign the portfolio allocation list and retired for the day...”
Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray had sent the list on Saturday evening after 9pm. He approved the list on Sunday early morning.
The Saamana editorial said portfolio allocation was a “business” of “rewarding” people and a “compromise”. “[With the allocation], Marathi people are now expecting ‘Ram Rajya’,” it said.
