Ministerial blues haunt Mahayuti

Dissent within the Mahayuti is out in the open after chief minister (CM) Devendra Fadnavis expanded his team of ministers on Sunday. This was not entirely unexpected since the legislators who failed to land a ministry included heavyweights such as Chhagan Bhujbal and Dilip Walse-Patil. Considering that all Mahayuti constituents — the Bharatiya Janata Party, Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) — did well in the polls, numerous ministerial aspirants were expected to miss out. Multiple factors, including region and caste, are considered to ensure the right social mix in the ministry. That logic, however, has not impressed those who missed berths. Many stayed away when 39 ministers were inducted into the ministry on Sunday. In Nashik, Bhujbal’s supporters blocked traffic and torched vehicles. The senior leader, a critic of the demand for a Maratha quota, stressed his credentials as an OBC leader to question his exclusion from the ministry. Eknath Shinde, who had gone into a sulk when he lost out on the CM’s office, has come out with an ingenious plan to contain the dissent within his party — the Sena plans to collect signed affidavits from its ministers that they will quit office midway into their tenure. The ostensible reason is to enable the party and CM to drop underperformers. These affidavits have no legal sanctity but serve as a balm to legislators who missed out in this round.

PREMIUM