The Bharatiya Janata Party used the Home and Urban Development (UD) departments for party ‘development’, said an editorial in Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamana on Monday, criticising ally Congress as well as opponent Bharatiya Janata Party over portfolio distribution and government formation. “Now, two former chief ministers from the Congress, Prithviraj Chavhan and Ashok Chavan, want ministries but it is time the old guard made way for new faces,” the editorial said.
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray recently allotted portfolios to six Cabinet ministers without keeping any portfolio with himself. The Sena, with the post of CM, got the best deal for 15 ministries, followed by the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) with 16 and the Congress with 12. However, the final distribution will take place later. When that happens, the three parties will have to accommodate their heavyweights such as the NCP’s Ajit Pawar, Dilip Walse-Patil, Congress’s Prithviraj Chavhan and Ashok Chavan, the Shiv Sena’s Diwakar Raote and Ramdas Kadam, among others.
Taking potshots at its ally Congress, the Saamana editorial said, “Two former CMs from the Congress want to be in the Cabinet but what portfolios shall we give them? It will be a task to accommodate Ashok Chavan and Prithviraj Chavan in the Cabinet expansion. The NCP has some big names, and so does the Shiv Sena. But the old ones are not ready to leave posts for youngsters. They need to come out of the illusion that the State government won’t function without them.” Nothing stopped even after Mr. Fadnavis went away (as CM), it said, further. “People need to come out of the attraction for ‘plum portfolios.’ How can the nation be served only through select portfolios? Nobody wants ministries such as relief and rehabilitation, information technology, skill development, school education, health, Marathi language and culture.”
The editorial also hit out at the BJP saying, “The previous government stayed in power through the Home Department and carried out economic development of the party through the UD department. The Public Works Department may not have filled potholes but it filled coffers. Many used the Home Department as if they are their servants. But the government has changed; the CM has not kept any portfolios with himself and was generous with portfolio distribution. This Assembly session will be successful.”
