Ajit Pawar and men win big, Shinde and Co lose out in Maharashtra portfolios

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar was on Friday allocated the key finance and planning portfolio while some of the eight other Nationalist Congress Party leaders who joined the state cabinet with him a fortnight ago were also given important portfolios like cooperation and agriculture.

Ajit Pawar getting the finance portfolio is significant as there was stiff opposition to it from Shiv Sena MLAs led by Bharat Gogawale and Prahar party legislator Bachchu Kadu, who claimed that the NCP leader had blocked funds for them when he was finance minister in the Maha Vikas Aghadi government and was responsible for their rebellion against Uddhav Thackeray's leadership.

In Friday's portfolio allocation, the NCP’s Dilip Walse Patil bagged the cooperation ministry, earlier held by the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Atul Save. Dhananjay Munde got the agriculture portfolio, earlier handled by the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena's Abdul Sattar.

There was speculation that the state ministry expansion will also happen on Friday. But no new ministers were inducted and there were unconfirmed reports that an expansion will take place after the Maharashtra legislature's monsoon session which begins in Mumbai on July 17.

There are now 28 cabinet ministers in Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's government but no minister of state. The ministry can have a maximum of 43 members.

Not only did Ajit Pawar get the finance ministry on Friday which can upset the Shiv Sena ministers, but  some cabinet ministers also lost a few of their portfolios to the NCP.  Among them were Sattar and Rathod of the Shinde-led Shiv Sena and the BJP's Mangal Prabhat Lodha.

Chief minister Shinde himself gave up five ministries -- PWD (public sector undertakings), marketing, disaster management, relief and rehabilitation, soil and water conservation and minority development.

The PWD (public sector undertakings) was given to the Shiv Sena's Dada Bhuse while soil and water conservation went to Sanjay Rathod.

Abdul Sattar, who lost the agriculture ministry to the NCP's Dhananjay Munde, was made minister for minority development and marketing.

Sattar had drawn criticism for making derogatory comments about NCP Lok Sabha member Supriya Sule and some of his decisions had proved to be controversial.

Dhananjay Munde, nephew of the late BJP stalwart Gopinath Munde, was social justice minister in the MVA government.

Shiv Sena minister Sanjay Rathod was divested of food and drug administration department and given the soil and water conservation ministry. The FDA was allocated to the NCP's Dharmaraobaba Atram.

Rathod was earlier forest minister in the Uddhav Thackeray government but had to resign after the BJP, then in the opposition, mounted pressure alleging his involvement in a woman's death by suicide.

BJP leader Mangal Prabhat Lodha held three portfolios -- women and child development, tourism, and skills and entrepreneurship. Out of these, the women and child development department was given to the NCP's Aditi Tatkare, while tourism was allocated to the BJP's Girish Mahajan.

Lodha, the richest minister in the Shinde cabinet, was made minister for the first time after the BJP-Shiv Sena government was formed in 2022. Some of his decisions and statements had led to controversies.

Dada Bhuse from the Shiv Sena received the PWD (public sector undertakings) department which handles big-ticket infrastructure projects. Earlier CM Shinde had kept it with himself.

Bhuse earlier handled ports development, which is now given to the NCP's Sanjay Bansode along with sports and youth welfare.

NCP's Anil Patil is now relief, rehabilitation and disaster management minister. 

Atul Save, the BJP leader who was handling OBC and other backward welfare as well as cooperation, has now been made housing development minister, a department that was with deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Fadnavis has ceded the finance and planning departments to Ajit Pawar. But the former chief minister still holds home, energy, water resources, law and judiciary portfolios.

Another BJP minister Ravindra Chavan who was in charge of PWD (excluding public sector undertakings) and food and civil supplies and consumer protection departments is now left with only PWD.

Fadnavis confidant Girish Mahajan earlier handled two major portfolios -- rural development and panchayat raj, and medical education. In Friday's portfolio distribution, NCP's Hasan Mushrif got the medical education department. Mushrif had served as rural development minister in the MVA government.

Ambadas Danve, Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra legislative council, said time was exacting revenge on the Shiv Sena MLAs who rebelled against Uddhav Thackeray in June 2022 citing the discrimination they faced from Ajit Pawar's finance ministry as a major reason.

Clyde Crasto, spokesperson of the Sharad Pawar-led NCP, referred to the BJP accusing Ajit Pawar of scams and corruption in the past.

"Was the BJP making allegations against him (Ajit Pawar) to put pressure on him and his group, or was this just a part of their (BJP's) washing machine scheme? Mostly importantly, does the BJP endorse the alleged scams and corruption in the cooperative sector," he asked.