Deshmukh gets Home, Dr Raut Power
   Date :06-Jan-2020

Deshmukh gets Home Dr Rau
 
 
Staff Reporter :
 
Saoner MLA Sunil Kedar gets Animal Husbandry, Dairy Development, Sports and Youth Welfare in allocation of portfolios to ministers in MVA Govt
 
Now, all eyes on appointment of Guardian Ministers for various districts 
 
Finally, the portfolios were allocated to sworn-in Ministers and Ministers of State in Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) Government comprising Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and Congress. In the allocation exercise, NCP MLA from Katol in Nagpur district Anil Deshmukh has got all-important Home portfolio. Besides, there is a change in the portfolio of Congress MLA Dr Nitin Raut. Saoner MLA Sunil Kedar also got a ministerial berth. Congress has four MLAs in Nagpur district -- Dr Nitin Raut (Nagpur North), Vikas Thakre (Nagpur West), Sunil Kedar (Saoner), and Raju Parwe (Umred).
 
Anil Deshmukh is the only NCP MLA from the district. He got elected from Katol constituency after a gap of five years. Adv Ashish Jaiswal, former Shiv Sena MLA, who contested as an Independent candidate and won from Ramtek after a gap of five years. He later extended support to Shiv Sena. Of these candidates in the race for ministerial berths, senior Congress leader Dr Nitin Raut got the first chance in MVA Government. He was among the first six ministers sworn-in along with Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. Then, he had got PWD portfolio. After a gap, some more Ministers were sworn-in and senior NCP leader Anil Deshmukh and senior Congress leader Sunil Kedar also got berths.
 
However, for want of allocation of portfolios, all were waiting. Finally, it officially happened on Sunday. As per the portfolio allocation, now Dr Nitin Raut has got the Ministry of Power. Interestingly, in the previous BJP-Sena Government also the portfolio was with Nagpur district. Then, senior BJP leader and Kamptee MLA Chandrashekhar Bawankule was Minister of Power. Besides, NCP leader Anil Deshmukh got the all-important Home portfolio. He was previously Food and Civil Supplies Minister in the erstwhile Congress-NCP led Democratic Front Government. His choice for Home portfolio surprised many in other parts of Maharashtra, but it was a good move by NCP considering that Nagpur is Second Capital of the State. Interestingly, in the previous BJP-Sena Government, senior BJP leader from the city Devendra Fadnavis held the Home portfolio apart from being Chief Minister.
 
The third leader from Nagpur who has got ministerial berth is Sunil Kedar. He was previously Minister of State when BJP-Sena formed the Government for the first time in Maharashtra. He had contested as an Independent too, and had later joined Congress party. He is among the senior MLAs of Congress. The Saoner MLA has got Animal Husbandry, Dairy Development, Sports and Youth Welfare Ministry. The portfolio of Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development has been traditionally with Vidarbha whenever Congress was in power. In the previous regimes of Congress, the said portfolio was with Dr Anees Ahmed and Dr Nitin Raut. Apart from these three, MVA has inducted four more Ministers from Vidarbha region. These other four include Rajendra Shingne from Buldhana, Vijay Wadettiwar from Chandrapur, Sanjay Rathod from Yavatmal, and Adv Yashomati Thakur from Amravati district. Of them, Shingne has got Food and Drugs Administration.
 
Wadettiwar has got Backward Classes Welfare, Khar Lands Development, Earthquake Rehabilitation. Rathod has got Forests, Disaster Management, Relief and Rehabilitation. Adv Yashomati Thakur has got Woman and Child Development portfolio. Bachchu Kadu has been inducted as Minister of State for Water Resources and Command Area Development, School Education, Woman and Child Development, Backward Classes Welfare, and Labour. Interestingly, the Cabinet Minister and Minister of State for Woman and Child Development are both from Amravati district. Besides, Cabinet Minister and Minister of State for Backward Classes Development both are from Vidarbha region. Now that the portfolios have been allocated, all eyes are on appointment of Guardian Ministers of various districts. Some senior leaders of MVA had made statements that Guardian Minister will be of the party in MVA that has the maximum number of seats in a district. Considering this, Dr Nitin Raut may be the Guardian Minister. In Chandrapur and Buldhana, there may not be any issue as Wadettiwar and Shingne appear to be the strongest contenders for the post of Guardian Minister.
 
To Rathod’s appointment as a Minister, there was a strong opposition from his party colleague and MP Bhavana Gawali. Against this backdrop, it will be interesting to see whether Rathod is named Guardian Minister of Yavatmal district. In Amravati, there may be a contest between Adv Yashomati Thakur and Bachchu Kadu. However, though Vidarbha region has got 11 districts, MVA has given ministerial berths to only eight leaders, of whom three are from Nagpur district and two from Amravati district. One each is from Buldhana, Yavatmal, Chandrapur districts. In the process, the districts of Akola, Washim, Gadchiroli, Bhandara, Gondia, and Wardha have got no representation in the Cabinet. It will be interesting to watch how the MVA strikes a balance on this count.