Even though the Mahayuti got a clear mandate in the Maharashtra assembly elections, the state has been confused about government formation for almost a month. After the delay in the expansion of the Chief Minister and the Council of Ministers, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has given the responsibility of the Council of Ministers to his ministers. The Bharatiya Janata Party has retained all the important posts including the Chief Minister, Home Minister, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly and Chairman of the Legislative Council. But the delay in government formation shows that the party is not yet in full control.
Mr. Fadnavis was sworn in as Chief Minister on December 5, 13 days after the election results. It took him another 10 days to form a full cabinet. He has left only one seat vacant in his cabinet and eleven ministers from the Shinde cabinet have not found a place in the Fadnavis cabinet. Five ministers of the Ajit Pawar-led NCP, Chhagan Bhujbal, Dharmarao Baba Atram, Sanjay Bansode, Dilip Walse Patil and Anil Patil were removed. Three BJP ministers – Ravindra Chavan, Sudhir Mungantiwar and Vijaykumar Gavit, along with Shiv Sena’s Tanaji Sawant, Abdul Sattar and Deepak Kesarkar were also out.
The tension that started over the formation of the cabinet has been intensified by the distribution of portfolios. Some of the heavyweight ministers of the Shinde government have got less important portfolios. The state’s water resources department has been split and given to BJP’s Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil and Girish Mahajan.
CPN’s Dhananjaya Munde, who is the Agriculture Minister, has been given the Department of Food and Civil Supplies. In the words of Mr. Pawar, “Some are happy, some are sad.” With these decisions.
However, Mr. Fadnavis has managed to keep his MPs happy. Although he did not get the home ministry he wanted, Shinde got the two plum portfolios of urban development and housing. Through the UD department, he can control urban local bodies and key agencies like MMRDA, CIDCO and MSRDC.
Mr. Pawar keeps his finance department, which gives him control over the state budget. Now all three people have got what they want, they have to run the government decisively. Otherwise their overwhelming victory will be meaningless.