Tag: Chhagan Bhujbal

Trouble in ‘Mahayuti’? Suhas Kande Says Chhagan Bhujbal Campaigning for Sharad Pawar’s Faction

With the Ajit Pawar faction of the NCP joining hands with the Shinde faction of Shiv Sena, things have become difficult for Suhas Kande, since he and Chhagan Bhujbal had been political rivals for some years now. 

New Delhi: Cleaves between leaders of Maharashtra’s ‘Mahayuti’ alliance has come to the fore with Shiv Sena MLA Suhas Kande launching an attack on senior state minister and ally, Chhagan Bhujbal, for allegedly campaigning for the rival faction of the Nationalist Congress Party in the Dindori Lok Sabha constituency.

The Mahayuti is an alliance of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Shiv Sena (under Eknath Shinde) and the wing of the Nationalist Congress Party under Ajit Pawar.

Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty

While Bhaskar Bhagre is the candidate from NCP (Sharad Pawar) faction in Dindori, Bharati Pawar from the BJP, a minister in the Narendra Modi government, is the Mahayuti’s candidate.

Dindori is among 13 Lok Sabha seats that will go to polls on May 20.

According to news reports, Kande, while addressing his party’s supporters in his assembly constituency of Nandgaon on May 10, said, “If he (Bhujbal) has become a minister, he has ben made one under the Mahayuti quota. However, when it comes to campaigning, he is doing so for the NCP symbol. If he loves the tutari (NCP’s election symbol) so much, then I beg you to resign as a minister and work for the NCP (SP).”

An Indian Express report said Bhujbal has, however, denied the allegation made by Kande. “Our people are working diligently. I have told my people that if we have differences with local MLA, we should carry on our work separately to ensure the victory of the Mahayuti alliance (in Dindori),” he said.

Bhujbal represents the Yeval assembly seat adjoining Nandgaon. When the NCP’s Ajit Pawar split the party in July 2023, Bhujbal was among some senior party leaders who had joined him.

Kande too had joined the Eknath Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena. 

With the Ajit Pawar faction of the NCP joining hands with the Shinde faction of Shiv Sena in the state, and thus, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), things have become difficult for Kande, since he and Bhujbal had been political rivals for some years now. 

Kande, who had filed a series of cases against Bhujbal, had unsuccessfully contested the 2014 assembly elections in Nandgaon against Bhujbal’s son Pankaj. In the 2019 polls though, he could defeat Pankaj, then representing the undivided NCP led by Sharad Pawar, with 13,889 votes. 

Since 2009, the Dindori Lok Sabha seat in the state’s Nashik district has been pocketed by the BJP. In 2019, Bharti Pawar had won the seat by defeating NCP (undivided) candidate Dhanraj Mahale. 

Maharashtra Ferment: Court Notice to Chhagan Bhujbal Revives Corruption Taint

Maharashtra has the second largest number of seats in the country, 48, as compared to India’s largest state UP which has 80.

New Delhi: The two alliances facing off in the state of Maharashtra this time are the Shiv Sena (UBT)-Congress-Nationalist Congress Party’s Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) and the Bharatiya Janata Party-Eknath Shinde Shiv Sena-NCP (Ajit Pawar)’s Mahayuti. They are battling additional political spill-over from the Manoj Jarange Patil-led Maratha quota agitation which left the Eknath Shinde-led Mahayuti government in disarray, opening up a sharp Maratha-OBC divide.

There is news that Nanded’s prominent Congress defector, Ashok Chavan, was chased by Maratha quota activists yesterday. They shouted slogans and tried to stop the car of Maharashtra’s ex-chief minister in Kondha village in Nanded. A video showed people trying to stop his car before the police was able to ensure that the vehicle could go onwards. Chavan posted on social media that he had always worked for Maratha reservation.

The BJP had led the campaign against these so-called tainted leaders itself with great zeal last time. Central agencies seem to now be rapidly dropping them from their radar, post their switching to the BJP camp. Ashok Chavan and Ajit Pawar are two high-profile examples.

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Mid-day reports that now considered the prominent OBC face,  Chhagan Bhujbal’s name had “been doing the rounds as a certainty for the Nashik Lok Sabha constituency, which is currently held by an Eknath Shinde Sena leader, Hemant Godse. But the ‘done deal’ has been threatened by the Bombay High Court dealing “a blow to Bhujbal in the form of a notice.” The paper writes that he was discharged two years ago in the Maharashtra Sadan scam, but now, “he, along with the other acquitted accused, have been served notices by the Bombay High Court following a review petition filed by Mumbai-based civil activist Anjali Damania” who has challenged the discharge ina. high-profile corruption case. The high court has sent the notice to Bhujbal, his son Pankaj and nephew Sameer. The court has called for the Bhujbals to respond in four weeks. The Free Press Journal writes that Justice S. M. Modak has asked that the notices be issued through the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB).

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In other news, talks with Vanchit Bahujan Aghazi, led by Prakash Ambedkar, don’t seem to have gone exactly to plan. Before either the Mahayuti and Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) could announce their candidate for the Mumbai North-Central Lok Sabha seat where “Muslim voters have the largest presence in the city,” the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) has fielded a Muslim candidate, Abul Hasan Khan. Former IPS officer Abdur Rahman will be the VBA candidate in Dhule in North Maharashtra. The Indian Express writes that Rehman is a 1997 batch IPS officer, who had resigned from his post in 2019 as Inspector General (State Human Rights Commission) in protest against the Citizen Amendment Act (CAA) bill passed by Parliament.

VBA’s Rahul Gaikwad will also contest from Solapur (SC reserved), from where Prakash Ambedkar himself, had contested in 2019 and senior Congress leader and minister, also former chief minister, Sushilkumar Shinde had lost. This time, Shinde’s MLA daughter Praniti Shinde is contesting. In all, the VBA has announced 19 candidates.

#TheWireTake: The court case against Chhagan Bhujbal raises the sceptre of corruption once again on key Mahayuti leaders. The Wire reported on March 28 on how weeks after being endorsed by the NCP (Ajit Pawar) as their Rajya Sabha candidate, CBI withdrew corruption charges against ex-Sharad Pawar loyalist and UPA minister Praful Patel. This again brings the fact of Mahayuti being loaded with the corruption baggage of ‘tainted’ leaders right back in the public discussion. The Shiv Sena-BJP alliance last time, managed 41 of 48 seats in the state. The state poses the biggest puzzle in 2024, with the political picture having drastically changed in five years. The slicing of Shiv Sena and NCP by the BJP has helped the BJP take control of the state government. But the electoral impact of Uddhav Thackeray being left with a rump party and Sharad Pawar, the political stalwart, the senior-most political leader of the state left with NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar), both facing ‘betrayal’ and Sharad Pawar being stripped of his election symbol is yet to be understood clearly.

Amid OBC-Maratha Quota Row in Maharashtra, Shinde Sena MP Backs Nationwide Caste Census Demand

Prataprao Jadhav’s statement in parliament endorsing a key poll promise of the opposition INDIA bloc goes against the view of the Eknath Shinde-led government. However, it also reflects Shinde Sena’s difficulty over placating its own OBC leaders after deciding to give into the Maratha quota demand.

New Delhi: At a time when Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in Maharashtra are up in arms against the Eknath Shinde-led state government over its decision to grant OBC certificates to Marathas, Shiv Sena MP, Prataprao Jadhav, called for a nationwide caste census speaking in parliament on Tuesday, February 7.

“Following the movement for the Maratha reservation, around 57 lakh people are being given Kunbi certificates. There has been a demand for a caste census in parliament too. If a caste census is done along with the general census in 2026-27, reservations for OBCs can be increased in states where their population is found to be higher. Similarly, quota can be reduced wherever it is found that their population has decreased,” Buldhana MP said, according to The Indian Express.

Jadhav’s statement assumes significance for two reasons: One, it is a major poll plank of the Opposition bloc, the INDIA alliance; two, the Shinde government is still non-commital on commissioning such a survey at least in Maharashtra. On the other hand, Jadhav’s statement is also being perceived as an attempt by the Shinde government to placate OBCs in the state who are angered by the decision to give in to demands of Manoj Jarange Patil, by promising him to grant OBC certificates to Marathas.

“In Maharashtra, Kolis, Dhangars, and Lingayats, among others, have been agitating for reservation. I request the government that a census of these communities be conducted and appropriate reservation is granted to them. The Centre must give proper instructions to the state governments,” Jadhav said in the parliament, while speaking on a Bill that assures reservations to OBCs in Jammu and Kashmir.

Jahadv’s statement calling for a nationwide caste census is a first by a Sena MP although several OBC leaders of the Shinde government have been vocal in their criticism over accepting the demands of Maratha quota leader Manoj Jarange Patil. Last month, the Shinde government issued a draft notification stating that Kunbi (OBC) certificates would be given to Marathas, after Patil went on an indefinite hunger strike. The OBCs in the state, including its leaders like Chhagan Bhujbal, a senior minister in the Shinde Cabinet, opposed the move, fearing that it would eat into their share of the reservation pie.

While supporting the idea of the nationwide caste census, Jadhav, however, criticised Rahul Gandhi and his Congress party who are one of the earliest proponents of the nationwide caste census this time around. According to Jadhav, the Congress is floating the idea only to keep the poor and backward as they are. “They opposed the Mandal Commission report tooth and nail. It is under the Narendra Modi government that OBCs will get reservation in Jammu and Kashmir after 75 years,” he said speaking in the parliament.

Meanwhile, Nationalist Congress Party MP Supriya Sule, accused the government of doing nothing despite demands for reservation from many communities in Maharashtra. “Can they please specify what is their stand on SC/ST and OBC reservations? They should bring a nationwide policy on reservations. They have a triple-engine government in Maharashtra but no elections are happening in local bodies in the state,” she said.

Maharashtra: Ministers Dissatisfied With Shinde Govt’s Handling of Maratha Stir

Union minister Narayan Rane and Other Backward Classes leader Chhagan Bhujbal, who is also minister in the Maharashtra cabinet, have questioned the move.

New Delhi: Two Maharashtra politicians with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party dispensation have expressed dissatisfaction with the state government’s stand on the Maratha reservation issue.

The two are Union minister Narayan Rane and Other Backward Classes leader Chhagan Bhujbal, who is also minister in the Maharashtra cabinet. Both have opposed the Eknath Shinde government’s decision to extend benefits accorded to OBCs to Marathas.

The Hindu has reported that Bhujbal especially noted that this was a “backdoor entry” of the community into the OBC category.

Bhujbal is part of the Ajit Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party, which aligned with the ruling faction of the Shiv Sena party and the BJP last year.

He said that the culmination of the Maratha quota stir has led to anxieties among existing OBC community members.

“The OBCs are having a feeling that they have lost their reservations as Marathas will take the benefits. I support giving a separate reservation to Marathas, but not sharing the existing OBC quota with them. Because once they become a part of the existing reservations for OBCs, only they will get the benefits,” he said.

Meanwhile, Midday has reported that NCP (Ajit Pawar division) leader Praful Patel has said that Bhujbal’s criticism of the Maharashtra government  is not the official stand of the party.

Patel said Bhujbal’s stand was that of the Samata Parishad, the OBC group headed by him, and not of the NCP.

Bhujbal said that retired Justice Sandeep Shinde, who heads the committee that will look into the Kunbi records of Marathas, receives an excessively high salary. He said that while the Chief Justice of India gets a salary of Rs 2.80 lakh, Justice Shinde and the committee members get Rs 4.50 lakh each.

After Modi, RSS Also Says It Is Against Caste Census Demand

The organisation’s Vidharbha chief Sridhar Gadge admitted that there has been caste-based discrimination for ages, which would take time to be completely eradicated. A caste census, he said, “would only deepen the rift”. 

New Delhi: Just days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke against conducting a caste census, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has also categorically stated that the exercise is not needed as it would “weaken national unity”.

Speaking against the need for a census with a group of Maharashtra assembly MLAs of the BJP and Shiv Sena at the outfit’s Nagpur headquarters, RSS Vidarbha chief Sridhar Gadge said the caste census might benefit “some people politically” as it would provide data on how much the population of a certain caste is, “but it is not good for national unity.”

RSS functionaries brief right-wing MLAs of the state annually at its headquarters.  

A Times of India report said, “Admitting that there has been caste-based discrimination for ages and that it would take time for it to be completely eradicated, Gadge said a caste census would only deepen the rift.” 

Terming the growing demand for Maratha reservation as a regional issue, Gadge tried differentiating between reservation and caste census, stating that reservation had been introduced because of the need for social uplift and it would continue till “there is complete social progress as not all communities have progressed yet.”

Though the Ajit Pawar faction of the NCP is part of the Eknath Shinde government in Maharashtra, its MLAs stayed away from the meeting with Gadge. Addressing the matter, its leader and state minister Chhagan Bhujbal called the RSS’s idea about caste census utopian. “When people seek legal remedy for reservation, courts ask for data on population. How can that be possible without a caste census?”

Gadge’s statement against the caste census comes after Prime Minister Modi spoke against it during a public address at Varanasi, his Parliamentary constituency, on Monday. Rejecting the opposition’s demand for such a census, Modi reiterated what he had said in October: “Only four castes – women, youth, deprived sections and farmers – exist in the country.” At the time, he was reacting to the Bihar government releasing the data of a caste survey it conducted, which revealed that OBC and EBC groups together comprised 64% of the state’s population.

Their empowerment, Modi said, “would catapult the country into a developed nation,” according to a New Indian Express report. The Modi government says it plans to make India a developed country by 2047. 

Rumblings in the Maharashtra Coalition Govt as Ajit Pawar Gets Finance, 8 NCP MLAs Plum Portfolios

With nine Cabinet berths going to the Nationalist Congress Party, there is a feeling of betrayal among the MLAs of older allies, Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena and BJP, who have to compromise on their share of Cabinet berths. 

New Delhi: Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, who spearheaded the split in the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) earlier this month, has been rewarded with the Finance portfolio in the latest rejig of the state cabinet.

All nine MLAs from NCP’s splintered group who joined the Eknath Shinde-led government were allotted portfolios on Friday, July 14. In addition to Finance, Ajit Pawar will also handle the Planning portfolio.

Chhagan Bhujbal has been allotted the Food and Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection departments, and Dilip Walse-Patil has been given the Cooperation department. Dharamraobaba Atram will head the Drug and Administration (FDA) portfolio.

While Dhananjay Munde has been assigned the Agriculture portfolio, Hasan Mushrif will head the Medical Education department. Anil Patil will oversee the Relief and Rehabilitation, and Disaster Management departments.

Sanjay Bansode will now manage Sports and Youth Welfare, and Port portfolios. Aditi Takkare will now head the Women and Child Welfare Department. Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil has been the in-charge of the Revenue, Animal Husbandry, and Dairy Development departments. Sudhir Sachhidanand Mungantiwar will handle Forests, Cultural Affairs, and Fisheries.

After the latest reshuffle, chief minister Eknath Shinde will be left with General Administration, Urban Development, Information Technology, Information and Public Relations, Transport, Social Justice, Environment and Climate Change, Mining, and other departments which have not been assigned to other ministers. Meanwhile, another deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis will handle Home, Law and Justice, Water Resources and River Development, Energy, and Parliamentary Affairs.

As expected, the induction of NCP MLAs into the Cabinet has not gone down well with the legislators of Shinde’s Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party, who feel that they have received a raw deal with the latest Cabinet rejig.

With 288 Assembly seats, a government in Maharashtra can have a total of 43 ministries in the cabinet. Now, with the induction of NCP MLAs into the government, a total of 29 berths have been filled, and 14 are vacant.

With nine berths going to the NCP, there is a feeling of betrayal among the MLA of older allies, Shinde’s Shiv Sena and BJP who have to compromise on their share of Cabinet berths.

On the other hand, a number of Sena and BJP allies in the government are unhappy over giving away the plum Finance portfolio to Ajit Pawar, who they think in his earlier stint as Finance Minister in the Maha Vikas Aghadi government squeezed the development funds meant to reach the constituencies of Sena MLAs.

Bachchu Kadu, an Independent MLA supporting the Shinde-led Shiv Sena, told Indian Express that many MLAs are opposed to the allotment of the Finance portfolio to Ajit Pawar. In fact, many Sena MLAs, now in the Shinde’s camp, had cited Ajit Pawar’s handling of the Finance portfolio as a reason for snapping their ties with the Maha Vikas Aghadi government.

In Maharashtra, It’ll Be Open Season Until the 2024 Lok Sabha Election

The next moves from the wily Sharad Pawar are awaited. Some political pundits claiming superior knowledge of Maharashtra say Pawar was in the loop and all this is happening with his implicit consent.

Political intrigue and cynicism have peaked in Maharashtra, which is widely seen as a key swing state for the 2024 general election, with 48 Lok Sabha seats, the highest after Uttar Pradesh. It was no  surprise that Sharad Pawar’s nephew Ajit Pawar was on Sunday, July 2, sworn in as deputy chief minister after he joined the Bharatiya Janata Party-Shinde Shiv Sena alliance, claiming that he had the support of most NCP MLAs.

That is yet to be tested, but what was really surprising was that Sharad Pawar loyalists like Praful Patel and Chhagan Bhujbal joined Ajit Pawar’s breakaway faction.

Patel and Supriya Sule were made working presidents of the NCP by Sharad Pawar only last month after speculation began that Ajit Pawar might join the BJP with his band of loyalists.

No one thought Praful Patel would ever ditch Sharad Pawar. But then Ajit Pawar, Praful Patel and Bhujbal have also been under the scrutiny of the Enforcement Directorate. PM Modi last week addressed a rally in Bhopal where he attacked the NCP as a “ghotala (scam)” party with leaders involved in corruption cases amounting to Rs 70,000 crore.

Modi specifically mentioned the irrigation scam, which is linked to Ajit Pawar. The ED attached four floors of Praful Patel’s prime property in South Mumbai a few months ago. The property allegedly has links with Dawood Ibrahim’s right hand man Iqbal Mirchi. No wonder the joke doing the rounds is that “the ED faction of NCP has allied with the BJP”!

But the endgame of Maharashtra politics is not nearly played out yet.

Also read: Ajit Pawar Is the Very Antithesis of Modi’s ‘Naya Bharat’

The next moves from the wily Sharad Pawar are awaited. Some political pundits claiming superior knowledge of Maharashtra say Pawar was in the loop and all this is happening with his implicit consent. It is argued that Praful Patel in particular would not have moved a muscle without Pawar’s green signal.

Another view is that Pawar has instinctively read the ground reality in Maharashtra, whose voters are disgusted with Modi and Shah’s cynical politics ― this was quite evident after the Supreme Court verdict on the Shinde Shiv Sena power grab. A veritable sympathy wave for Uddhav Thackeray was palpable at the time. Of late, the BJP has been very worried that the traditional Shiv Sena voter favours Uddhav Thackeray, which internal BJP surveys have apparently confirmed. The Supreme Court verdict has given Uddhav the moral high among the people of Maharashtra.

Pawar, too, could now play the victim card with the Maratha voter and possibly turn the tide in his favour. Don’t forget the visual of Pawar standing in the rain, addressing a crowd to thwart Modi’s attempt to corner him.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar addresses a public meeting in the rain ahead of the 2019 assembly elections, in Satara district of Maharashtra on October 18. Photo: PTI

It is reasonable to assume that Pawar’s last gambit would be to leave some political legacy for his daughter. Also, note that after the defection, a spokesperson described Pawar as their devta (god) and hoped he would follow them into the BJP camp. In Indian mythology, gods follow their own counsel!

One will have to see how the old fox of Indian politics plays his cards now. The NCP has sought the disqualification of the rebel MLAs under the 10th Schedule of the Constitution, and a fight for the party symbol could follow. A split in the party must be guided by the rules of the 10th schedule and the Election Commission will eventually decide on issues like who retains the party symbol.

“The Tenth Schedule (anti-defection law) also operates when a group of persons, whether minority or majority, claim they belong to the same party,” Justice D.Y. Chandrachud had said in the context of the Shiv Sena split. In Maharashtra, it’ll be open season until 2024.

This piece was first published on The India Cable – a premium newsletter from The Wire & Galileo Ideas – and has been republished here. To subscribe to The India Cable, click here.

‘This Time It’s Different’: Shiv Sainiks Glum As Shinde Challenges Uddhav Thackeray

Supporters say though party loyalists have quit before, the attempt to topple the Thackeray family is “unfathomable”.

Mumbai: Shiv Sainiks are not strangers to internal party conflicts. The exits of several party loyalists – from Chhagan Bhujbal to Raj Thackeray – in the past had shaken the roots of the party. This time, however, it is different, many party workers say. “This time, it is not just about breaking the party but also about toppling the Thackeray family. Which is unfathomable,” says Girish Jagtap, an old party supporter from Girgaon, who gathered outside ‘Matoshree’ – Thackeray’s private residence – late at night on June 22. 

Shiv Sainiks from different parts of Mumbai assembled outside the Thackeray family residence. Similar organic gatherings sprung up in different parts of the city, especially where the party has a strong presence. But in politically vital Thane and Palghar districts, several banners were hoisted in support of the rebel party leader and cabinet minister Eknath Shinde. Shinde, a four-time MLA from Thane city, enjoys a mass following in these two districts, where the Sena has long held fort.  

Several banners supporting Eknath Shinde have cropped up in Thane and Palghar district. Photo: By arrangement

After Shinde launched a rebellion against the current Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition government in Maharashtra, Sena chief and state chief minister Uddhav Thackeray is facing an imminent fall. Starting from as few as 12 MLAs, by the end of the second day, Shinde claimed to have the support of over 40 party and independent MLAs. In a clear show of strength, Shinde’s followers released a video of him along with 42 rebel MLAs, all camping in a hotel in Guwahati.

On June 22, two days after Shinde moved out of Mumbai – first to Surat and later to Guwahati – Thackeray offered to quit as both the party chief and chief minister. “I am willing to quit if my MLAs come and tell me that I am not efficient and worthy of holding the posts,” an emotional Thackeray said, in a live-streamed video. Hours before that, Shinde had told the media that he was a “real Shiv Sainik” and a believer of founder Bal Thackeray’s principle of Hindutva. And in another statement, released on social media, Shinde said he and his supporting MLAs were not willing to budge until Thackeray breaks ties with the NCP and the Congress party, the Sena’s coalition partners in the MVA government.

Maharashtra CM and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray virtually addresses the people of the state, in Mumbai, June 22, 2022. Photo: Screengrab via PTI

Some party supporters, however, say Shinde is “delusional” for thinking he can be called a “Shiv Sainik” after “betraying” the party head (Uddhav). “Shinde schemed against the party head, abducted and lured MLAs to travel thousands of kilometres away with him and then continues to call himself a ‘true blood’ Shiv Sainik. It is a farce,” said 80-year-old Datta Patil, a party supporter from Sewri. Patil says he has been with the party right from its inception in the mid-60s. 

Shinde, in a letter to Thackeray, has complained that in the past two and half years as a chief minister of the state, Thackeray was never accessible to the party MLAs or workers. “I am happy to see such a huge crowd gather outside Varsha (the CM’s official bungalow),” he wrote in the letter. He further wrote that MLAs like him who have consistently managed to garner several lakh votes in elections were never allowed to see the CM. “We suffered this indignity for a long time. But you (the CM) made no efforts to understand concerns,” he writes.

While Shinde claims that every Sainik feels dejected because of Thackeray’s behaviour, Ajay Choudhari, a Sena MLA who was appointed the Legislature Party leader by Thackeray, claimed that those left behind (22 out of the total 55) are still loyal to the chief minister. Talking to the media in Mumbai, Choudhari said, “We have the support of 22 MLAs and 19 of them attended the meeting with the CM. We will all stay at St Regis hotel on Wednesday night and on Thursday, everyone will be allowed to go home.” Over 500 Shiv Sainiks, he claimed, were “guarding” the hotel.

A senior party leader, who is now in support of Shinde, claims that those left behind are ‘slowly losing hope’. “Shinde has taken away 75% of the party strength (MLAs). With their support, he is making it clear that his demand is legitimate and that Thackeray has failed Sainiks,” the leader said.

Maharashtra Govt Portfolios: Sena Gets Home, Jayant Patil Calls Allocations ‘Temporary’

Cabinet expansion is likely to take place after the winter session of the state legislature ends on December 21.

Mumbai: Portfolios in the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra were allotted on Thursday, two weeks after Uddhav Thackeray was sworn in as chief minister, with his party, Shiv Sena, getting the important Home ministry.

However, indicating the possibility of further reshuffling, NCP leader Jayant Patil wrote on Twitter that according to his understanding, the portfolio distribution was “temporary” in nature. The party is rumoured to be unhappy at not having been given the deputy chief ministership.

An expansion of the cabinet is likely to take place after the winter session of the state legislature ends on December 21.


Thackeray, along with six ministers — two each from Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress — took oath of office on November 28.

A statement from the CM’s office said that Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde has been given the charge of Home, Urban Development, Forest, Environment, Water Supply, Water Conservation, Tourism, Public Undertakings, Parliamentary Affairs departments.

The other Sena minister, Subhash Desai, has been given the charge of Industries, Higher and Technical Education, Sports and Youth Welfare, Horticulture, Transport, Marathi Language and Cultural Affairs, Ports.

Also read: The Maha Vikas Aghadi Could Liberate Shiv Sena and Maharashtra

NCP minister Jayant Patil has been allocated Finance and Planning, Housing, Public Health, Co-operation, Food & Civil Supplies, Labour and Minority Welfare.

Chhagan Bhujbal, another NCP minister, has been given Irrigation, Rural Development, Social Justice, Excise, Skill Development, Food and Drug Administration.

Congress minister Balasaheb Thorat has been given Revenue, Energy, Medical Education, School Education, Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development, Fisheries.

Congress’s Nitin Raut has been given PWD, Tribal Welfare, Women and Child Welfare, Textile, Relief and Rehabilitation, OBC,VJNT, Special Backward Class Welfare.

Chief minister Thackeray will keep the departments not allocated to any minister, the statement said.

(With PTI inputs)

As Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar Join Hands, Has the Irrigation Scam Charge Been Forgotten?

Five years ago, Fadnavis approved a state anti-corruption bureau inquiry into Ajit Pawar and the Maharashtra irrigation scam, an investigation that is still ongoing. Today, the NCP leader was sworn as his deputy chief minister for the next five years. 

Update (November 25): Two days after Ajit Pawar was sworn in as a deputy chief minister of Maharashtra, the state police’s anti-corruption bureau has started the process of closing some of the cases in the alleged Rs. 70,000 crore irrigation scam.

In a letter, marked as “confidential”, the Anti Corruption Bureau’s additional director general Bipin Kumar Singh has sought for a closure of nine different cases or irrigation- related scam in Maharashtra.

While the letter doesn’t mention Ajit Pawar’s name anywhere, it has given details of several cases registered across different districts of Vidarbha region like Washim, Yavatmal, Amravati, and Buldhana– all filed in 2018.

In the letter, ADG Singh has stated that the investigations into the case have not led them to any tangible evidence and that the case be closed until any new evidence is found or as per the court’s direction. The closure report will have to be submitted to the court for final directions.

The ACB is presently investigating over  3000 different tenders. A senior ACB official told The Wire that the cases sought to be closed were “routine” in nature and that the main investigation still continues.

Speaking to news agency ANI, Maharashtra Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) DG, Parambir Singh said, “We are investigating around 3000 tenders in irrigation related complaints. These are routine inquiries that are closed and all ongoing investigations are continuing as they were earlier.”

Singh added that none of the cases that were closed today are related to Ajit Pawar.

New Delhi: In October 2013, Devendra Fadnavis and other state BJP officials showed up at the offices of renowned water expert Madhav Chitale in a bullock cart with what they claimed was clinching evidence of Ajit Pawar and the Nationalist Congress Party’s role in the Maharashtra irrigation scam.

Fadnavis, then the state BJP chief, unloaded four bags off the cart and presented a 14,000-page document to Chitale, who at the time was heading the special investigation team (SIT) probe into the alleged Rs 70,000 crore water scandal. 

“We want the committee to probe the role played by [now deputy chief minister] Ajit Pawar, who headed the department, and his Nationalist Congress Party colleague Sunil Tatkare, who is the current minister, in escalating project costs. They conspired with executive directors of the irrigation development boards to help contractors,” alleged Fadnavis, while speaking to reporters. 

In December 2014, after becoming chief minister, Fadnavis gave the go-ahead for a state Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) inquiry into Pawar and other top NCP leaders — a probe that is still ongoing.

In fact, the scam allegations became a regular talking point for the BJP in the run-up to the state elections in 2019, with even senior leaders like home minister Amit Shah lashing out against the NCP over the irrigation controversy.

Also read: Maharashtra Live: NCP to Take Action Against Ajit Pawar, Says He ‘Fooled’ MLAs

“Ajit Pawar spent Rs 70,000 crore on irrigation projects during the tenure of the Congress-NCP government in Maharashtra. I want to know from Prithviraj Chavan and Sharad Pawar where this money disappeared… Paisa kahan gaya? Pani kahan gaya? Ek bhi boond pani nahi aaya (‘Where has the money disappeared? Where has the water gone? Not a drop of water has been made available’),” Shah said at an election rally for BJP candidates Atul Bhosale and Udayanraje Bhosale at Shivaji Stadium in Karad.

On Saturday, after weeks of political manoeuvring, Fadnavis now finds himself beginning a second tenure in heading the Maharashtra state government with Ajit Pawar at his side as deputy chief minister.

Contours of a scandal

But what exactly is the Maharashtra irrigation scam, what has been alleged in its aftermath, and why is it uncomfortable for the BJP to accept the support of Pawar and a number of NCP MLAs? 

The scandal first came into the public domain when Vijay Pandhare, who was then the chief engineer in the water resources department, wrote letters to the Maharashtra governor on the various alleged irregularities in the costs and approvals of a number of irrigation projects.

Specifically, Pandhare alleged that Ajit Pawar, who was the state’s water resources minister between 1999 and 2009, had approved 38 projects worth Rs 20,000 crore in 2009 by tweaking rules without the specific clearance of the Governing Council of Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC).

More importantly though, despite the huge amounts of money spent on various projects, it appeared that there was no significant rise in irrigated land in the state. 

The most common allegation that made the rounds then — and continues to find space in election rallies like those made by Amit Shah — was that Maharashtra’s irrigation potential increased by just 0.1% in those years despite an expenditure of Rs 70,000 crore on such projects.

Also read: By Swearing Fadnavis in, Maharashtra Governor Has Opened the Ground for Horse-Trading

The controversy led to the resignation of Ajit Pawar, who eventually rejoined the Maharashtra cabinet after the Congress-led government headed by Prithviraj Chavan gave a clean chit to the NCP leader.

Separately, in December 2012, the Maharashtra government announced a probe by Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the scam. The SIT, headed by Chitale, submitted a report that flagged a number of irregularities in incomplete irrigation projects across the state, but ultimately also gave a clean chit to Ajit Pawar.

Pandhare, who first raised the allegations, went onto join the Aam Aadmi Party in December 2013.

Fadnavis and the ACB probe

After coming to power in late 2014, Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis approved the ACB’s proposal to investigate Ajit Pawar and other top NCP leaders in the irrigation controversy.

“I have been authorised by the chief minister of Maharashtra to state that he has cleared open inquiries by ACB against Ajit Pawar, Sunil Tatkare and Chhagan Bhujbal,” Advocate General Sunil Manohar told the Nagpur bench of the Bombay high court in December 2014.

Manohar added that Fadnavis had asked the ACB to go ahead with probe against the three top NCP leaders “in the alleged scams in which several thousand crores of rupees were siphoned off with the connivance of greedy contractors and pliant officials”.

Since then, the ACB probe, with regard to Pawar specifically, has continued slowly. 

In June 2015, media reports speculated that the ACB was going soft on Ajit Pawar, even as it turned up the heat on other NCP leaders like Chhagan Bhujbal.

An India Today story from the time noted how Bhujbal and his family members had been called for direct questioning, but in the case of Pawar, the ACB was satisfied with merely sending a postal questionnaire. Eventually though, Pawar was issued summons for in-person interrogation.

Also read: Why Chhagan Bhujbal May Be the Fall Guy in a Bigger Political Game

In November 2018, the anti-corruption bureau submitted an affidavit to the Bombay high court that pointed a finger at the now deputy chief minister of Maharashtra, noting that as minister of the water resources department, scams in the Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation department would come under his responsibility.

Around that time, senior BJP leaders claimed that Ajit Pawar could be arrested “anytime”.

“Police have reached the door steps of Ajit Pawar in the irrigation scam. Therefore, his condition is such that there is a sword hanging on his head and he can be arrested anytime,” state BJP president Raosaheb Danve said, while addressing a gathering in the presence of Fadnavis.

In October 2019, the most recent development, the ACB declared that it was “scrutinising” the answers submitted by Pawar over the allegations related to the Jigaon irrigation project.

An affidavit submitted by ACB superintendent Shrikant Dhivare in the Nagpur bench of Bombay high court, noted that the NCP leader submitted a reply to 52 out of 57 queries asked by the ACB on alleged irregularities while awarding construction contracts for the projects. 

The Nagpur division bench is currently hearing five PILs related to the irrigation scam. The petitioners claim that the ACB has no new information in the scam-related cases and that it has been examining Pawar’s role for over a year now.