Maha portfolios: Governor’s delay irks Sena, NCP

Targeted by the Opposition for taking time to allocate portfolios after last Monday’s cabinet expansion, the ruling Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and

Targeted by the Opposition for taking time to allocate portfolios after last Monday’s cabinet expansion, the ruling Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress blamed Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari for the delay in giving his nod to the list sent to him on Saturday evening.

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After several rounds of meetings between leaders of all three parties, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray sent the final list of allocation of portfolios to the Raj Bhavan around 9.45pm on Saturday. Koshyari, however, signed it on Sunday morning, a delay of more than 10 hours. “The governor (BS Koshyari) has set a record by holding a swearing-in ceremony [of Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar on November 23] very early in the morning. Now I have heard that he is retiring for the day by 10pm. This is surprising,” said NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday. A report in Sena mouthpiece Saamana stated the list was sent at 9.45pm. Raj Bhavan officials refused to comment on the controversy, while Governor’s secretary Santosh Kumar didn’t respond to HT’s calls and text messages.

“It was expected that the Governor would immediately clear it. Instead, the government was informed that the Governor is now taking rest and will clear the list only on Sunday,” the Saamana report stated.

Water resources minister and state NCP president Jayant Patil had on Saturday tweeted that the list was sent to the governor at 7.30pm, and he was expecting the Governor’s nod as early as possible.

After reports of unhappiness appeared in the media, the Raj Bhavan swung into action. “Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari has approved the allocation of portfolios as proposed by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray,” tweeted Raj Bhavan at 8.18am from its official handle, Governor of Maharashtra.