Daijiworld Media Network – Mumbai
Mumbai, Jan 20: In a significant political development, the Maharashtra government on Sunday stayed the appointments of Nashik and Raigad district guardian ministers after strong objections from the Shiv Sena.
On Saturday, the government had appointed minister for Water Resources Girish Mahajan (BJP) as the Nashik district guardian minister and minister for Women and Child Welfare Aditi Tatkare (NCP) as the Raigad district guardian minister. However, the Shiv Sena, which had laid claim to these two districts, expressed displeasure and warned that such decisions could disrupt the smooth functioning of the MahaYuti coalition government despite its overwhelming majority.
Shiv Sena’s Dadaji Bhuse, who served as the Nashik guardian minister under the Eknath Shinde-led government, and Bharat Gogawale, who had long aspired to become the Raigad guardian minister, were vocal about their discontent. Sena ministers Uday Samant and Gulabrao Patil also joined Bhuse and Gogawale in opposing the appointments of Mahajan and Tatkare.
Protests erupted on Saturday night in Mahad, the constituency of Gogawale, where his supporters threatened mass resignations unless their leader’s claim to the Raigad post was acknowledged.
Shiv Sena ministers escalated the matter to DCM and party leader Eknath Shinde, urging him to reconsider the appointments. In response, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, currently attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, directed the general administration department to put the appointments on hold. A government resolution was subsequently issued by deputy secretary Dilip Deshpande, staying the appointments until further notice.
This controversy unfolds at a time when the government had just announced district guardian ministers and co-guardian ministers for 36 districts ahead of Republic Day. The creation of co-guardian minister posts, a first in Maharashtra, was intended to balance the demands of coalition partners BJP, Shiv Sena, and NCP.
With the appointments of Nashik and Raigad guardian ministers on hold, new ministers will need to be assigned for the Republic Day flag-hoisting ceremonies, further complicating matters for the coalition government.