Congress ministers unhappy over ‘insignificant’ portfolios

The discontent among state ministers from Congress continued to come to fore on Tuesday over allocation of portfolios. Senior Congress leader and former leader of

The discontent among state ministers from Congress continued to come to fore on Tuesday over allocation of portfolios. Senior Congress leader and former leader of Opposition Vijay Wadettiwar skipped the cabinet meeting on Tuesday to express his unhappiness. Wadettiwar, who has been given the Other Backward Classes (OBC) welfare ministry, was reportedly eyeing the energy department that went to his party colleague Nitin Raut.

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According to leaders, who did not wish to be named, Wadettiwar has expressed his unhappiness with the party leadership and to register his protest, he has neither taken charge of the department nor did he attend the cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

Two other Congress ministers, Amit Deshmukh and Sunil Kedar, too, are unhappy with the portfolios allocated to them. Deshmukh has been given the medical education and cultural affairs departments, while Kedar has got the dairy development and animal husbandry departments.

Deshmukh and Kedar, both former ministers, were expecting significant departments.

When HT contacted Wadettiwar, he refused to comment on the issue, while Deshmukh said the reports are untrue.

Congress’s Jalna MLA Kailash Gorantyal, who defeated former minister of state Arjun Khotkar, too, was denied a ministerial berth. Gorantyal had announced he would resign as an MLA.

Former chief minister and public works department minister Ashok Chavan said he has spoken to Wadettiwar and Gorantyal and tried to convince them that it was a tough task to accommodate maximum MLAs in limited number of berths the party was conceded.

Maharashtra Congress chief Balasaheb Thorat said, “The allocation of the portfolios was done by the party leadership and the state unit had limited role to play in it.”

A section of the party leadership is of the opinion that the party’s state leaders could not build up pressure on the other ruling parties, Shiv Sena and NCP, to ensure significant departments. Both Thorat and Chavan said the Congress was not happy with the departments it has got in the government. Thorat had even approached chief minister Uddhav Thackeray over the issue.