Western Maharashtra dominates Chavan Govt; setback to Deshmukh, Rane camps

Sun, Nov 8 06:06 AM

Maharashtra finally got a government on Saturday with the swearing-in of a 38-member Council of Ministers led by Ashok Chavan, after more than two weeks of bitter wrangling over portfolios between the allies — Congress and NCP.

The swearing-in, however, is not expected to end the politicking over ministerial positions as the Congress kept five of its 23 berths vacant and also did not include high-profile first-time MLAs such as President Pratibha Patil's son Rajendra Shekhawat in the government. Shekhawat on Friday said he was not lobbying for a berth but his constituency Amravati had normally got one, which it needed for its development.

The choice of ministers in the Chavan government is also seen as a setback to his predecessor Vilasrao Deshmukh and rabblerouser Narayan Rane as none of their supporters were inducted.

Faced with too many aspirants for too few ministerial berths, Chavan has kept five positions vacant and promised an expansion in the near future. The ploy could be used by him and the party high command as a 'carrot and stick' policy to quell any possible dissent within the party after the government formation, party sources said.

"The Cabinet will be expanded in due course to include new ministers," Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee chief Manikrao Thakre said after the swearing-in. "Our party will also review the performance of the new ministers to provide an efficient government."

Talking to reporters after being sworn in, Chavan said law and order would be on his priority list, along with implementing the promises made in the election manifesto. "We'll also create separate machinery for prompt and effective implementation of the decisions taken by the Cabinet," he said, pointing out that the new government's thrust would be on infrastructure development, with special attention to Mumbai.

He said the first Cabinet meeting would be held on Sunday, followed by a three-day sitting of the newly elected Assembly from Monday.

The new Cabinet is dominated by ministers from western Maharashtra, which is the NCP's stronghold. Of the 38 ministers sworn in, 12 are from western Maharashtra, seven each from Marathwada (Chavan's region) and Vidarbha, four from north Maharashtra and three from Konkan. The ministers include 27 of Cabinet rank (Congress 12 and NCP 15) and 11 ministers of state (Congress six and NCP five).

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