Stealing a march over allies BJP and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde has appointed leaders of his Shiv Sena on various state-run corporations, giving them the status of ministers.
The appointments have understandably caused heartburn. A senior BJP leader and former minister said that while Shinde had accommodated his loyalists in prime positions or sinecures, those from the BJP, especially old-timers and loyalists, had been ignored in the larger scheme of things.
Former Union minister of state Anandrao Adsul has been appointed chairman of the Maharashtra State Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Commission. The BJP’s Dharmapal Meshram is the vice-chairman. Usually, former judges and retired bureaucrats are appointed to this commission. Adsul had backed Shinde after he split from the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena in June 2022. He had recently expressed resentment at being passed over for a gubernatorial appointment.
Adsul and his son, former MLA Abhijit Adsul, have a running battle with former Amravati MP Navneet Kaur Rana of the BJP and her husband and independent MLA Ravi Rana. The Ranas are close to deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.
Sanjay Shirsat, a three-term MLA from Aurangabad (West) and a Shiv Sena spokesperson, has been made chairman of the funds-rich City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra, and there are chances that Bharatseth Gogawale, MLA from Mahad in Raigad district, will become chairperson of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation.
Gogawale and Shirsat, who had thrown their lot with Shinde when he rebelled, had apparently been in the reckoning for ministerial berths during the expansion of the cabinet, but were unsuccessful. While the cabinet was expanded in July 2023 to include NCP chief Ajit Pawar and his eight colleagues, the Shiv Sena was not given any additional representation. These appointments to the corporations are aimed at soothing ruffled feathers before the assembly elections.
Shirsat’s case was also complicated because of the presence of three ministers from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (Aurangabad)—Sandipan Bhumre, Abdul Sattar (Shiv Sena) and Atul Save (BJP). Bhumre is now the Lok Sabha MP from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (Aurangabad).
The Maharashtra cabinet has 28 ministers—10 from the BJP and nine each from the Shiv Sena and NCP. All of them have cabinet rank.
Former Hingoli MP Hemant Patil has been appointed chairperson of the Balasaheb Thackeray Turmeric Research and Development Centre in Hingoli. Patil was given a renomination by the Shiv Sena from the Lok Sabha constituency, but dropped soon after, reportedly due to the BJP’s objections. He got replaced by Baburao Kadam Kohalikar from his own party. Kohalikar lost to Nagesh Patil Ashtikar of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray). To placate Hemant Patil, his wife Rajashri was nominated from the neighbouring Yavatmal-Washim seat. She too lost, to Sanjay Deshmukh of the Shiv Sena (UBT).
Shinde has also accommodated former Lok Sabha MPs Bhavana Gawali Patil and Krupal Tumane in the state legislative council. The two were denied nominations from Yavatmal-Washim and Ramtek, respectively, due to opposition from the BJP.
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