Too little too late

With the assembly elections just around the corner, chief minister Eknath Shinde is trying to pacify a few unhappy legislators and leaders in his party by appointing them as heads of government bodies. Senior legislator Sanjay Shirsat has been appointed as chairman of City and Industrial Development Corporation Limited (CIDCO) that develops townships. Another vocal legislator Bharat Gogawale has been made chairman of Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC), which runs public buses across the state. Former MPs Anand Adsul and Hemant Patil have been appointed heads of Maharashtra SC-ST Commission and Turmeric Research and Training Institute respectively. They have been given rank of ministers which means they would get treatment akin to a minister when they visit government offices along with an official car and staff. However, this has not managed to appease the appointees as they feel it’s too little too late. Shirsat and Gogawale were keen on ministerial berths. Instead, they had to be satisfied with less than that. Barring CIDCO, the rest of the appointments are politically less significant.
If the election is held in mid-November, as is being speculated now, they would barely get a month to take any decisions as the code of conduct would kick in, with the announcement of the election, which is expected any day now. Adsul had apparently been promised the governor’s post when he joined Shinde’s Sena. Patil was a sitting MP from Hingoli but was denied a ticket and Shinde had promised his political rehabilitation. He was expecting a berth in Rajya Sabha or the legislative council. However, with three parties sharing power, the Mahayuti government is crowded and only this much could be done for them, they were told. The situation is worse in Ajit Pawar’s NCP where even these kind of posts are hard to get now.
Polls in Nov or later?
Over the past few days, there have been speculations in political circles that the assembly elections in Maharashtra may not be held in November after all and could get postponed further. Leaders of the opposition Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) feel that this may be a possibility in case opposition parties do well in both Haryana and Jammu & Kashmir elections. They think that, in such a case, the ruling parties would prefer to let some time go before the Maharashtra elections are held. Mahayuti leaders are ruling it out saying they have been told to prepare for mid-November elections. Meanwhile, in Mantralaya, it’s literally race against time as pending proposals and financial clearances are being pushed before the code of conduct is imposed. Some senior officers say they are even contemplating to go on leave for a few days to get away from the pressure.
Isolating Ashok Chavan
Former MP and brother-in-law Bhaskar Patil-Khatgaonkar returning to Congress has irked former chief minister Ashok Chavan who quit the Congress to join the BJP ahead of Lok Sabha elections. According to Congress insiders, the party top leadership is still bitter about Chavan, considered a top leader of the party in the state till he quit, and party’s state in-charge Ramesh Chennithala has decided to isolate him in his Nanded district. Congress leaders managed to retain former minister D P Sawant who was a close aide of Chavan. Along with Khatgaonkar and his ambitious daughter in law Meenal, they have also managed to win back Omprakash Pokarna who too was a close aide of Chavan. The former CM faces a challenging situation on home turf, particularly when his new party is expecting him to control the damage caused by Maratha agitation. The BJP did not win a single Lok Sabha seat in the Marathwada region.
Khadse gives up on BJP
Senior politician Eknath Khadse seems to have given up on his hopes of rehabilitation in BJP. After waiting for the formal entry to the party for three months, Khadse on Saturday announced that he would continue to work for Sharad Pawar led NCP (SP). Khadse quit the BJP in 2020 and joined the NCP. Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, he returned to help the BJP as his daughter in law Raksha was renominated by the party in Raver constituency. Khadse worked to ensure her victory following which he was awaiting his formal entry to the party. It was put on hold due to strong opposition by state BJP leaders Devendra Fadnavis and Girish Mahajan. With no decision being taken on his inclusion, Khadse finally gave up the wait.
Power of electricity bills
Union minister of state for health and Shiv Sena MP Prataprao Jadhav surprised many in the audience when he said on Saturday in a public meeting that three generations of his family had never paid electricity bills. “I am a farmer. Our three generations have never paid electricity bills. My grand-father did not pay the bills. Neither my father nor me,” he said amid laughter and surprise. He also quipped that the trick was to keep the local engineer of the electricity board happy.