With the challenge of forming a ministry that will be clean and will deliver, the Congress is still finalising names for the Maharashtra Cabinet and taking an overview of sorts. The new Chief Minister, Prithviraj Chavan, has taken seriously Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's message of a performance-driven government, party sources said.
The swearing-in of the remaining members of the ministry is not likely before Thursday, official sources said. Only Mr. Chavan was sworn in from the Congress last Thursday. As a result, the Congress ally, the Nationalist Congress Party, which has already named nine members for the council of ministers, apart from the Deputy Chief Minister, is cooling its heels. Chavan to meet ministers
Mr. Chavan has to meet NCP president and Union Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, who is expected to be discharged from hospital on Tuesday, NCP sources said. He met Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel on Monday evening.
While the ministry would be a combination of the old guard and fresh blood, Congress sources said, care would be taken to give adequate regional representation to areas which the party has neglected, Thane district for instance, which has four Lok Sabha and 24 Assembly constituencies. While the NCP is careful about giving a social face to the party and giving due regional representation, the Congress has been lacking on this front.
Mr. Chavan, therefore, has a delicate task on hand, making sure the ministry is not old wine in a new bottle and also ensuring that there is real change. It is not only the Chief Minister but also the Cabinet which has to give the impression of being squeaky clean, say the party sources. So the Congress will be faced with removing leaders with any taint whatsoever, even if they pose a challenge to the party later.
Also, the party will make note of the leadership qualities of the ministerial candidates. In some cases, leaders just retain or win their seats, but do not ensure that the party wins other seats in the region. In some parts, for instance in the Konkan, the Congress has only one seat in Sindhudurg — that of Narayan Rane, while in Ratnagiri it has not won a seat. In Sangli, Patangrao Kadam has managed to retain his seat, but the Congress has fared badly. In Nagar and in Pune also, the Congress has not fared too well. A performance audit of sorts will begin at the top and some heads could roll, the sources confirmed.
The Congress has given the mandate to Mr. Chavan to be tough and the onus is on him to make a careful selection. The sources said Maharashtra had taken a beating nationwide and was being portrayed as a State of scams. The party had to retrieve its image at any cost. Mr. Chavan, while accepting the felicitations of the Congress at Tilak Bhavan after he took over, said it was a good time to repay a debt to the State.
