New Delhi: The Congress has been unable to build a consensus on which of its 10 MLAs will get ministerial berths, and as a result, cabinet expansion in Maharashtra has been pushed to 30 December, ThePrint has learnt.
Senior Congress leaders said the expansion was initially supposed to take place on 24 December. Uddhav Thackeray’s cabinet currently has six ministers — two each from the Shiv Sena, the NCP and the Congress. The plan is for the Congress to have 10 more ministers in the cabinet, while the other partners are to have 11 more each.
“We were earlier told that the oath ceremony would happen on Tuesday,” a senior Maharashtra Congress leader told ThePrint. “But a cabinet meeting was called instead.”
Another senior leader said: “Congress has not decided on a final list yet. There are many legislators who want ministerial posts, and a careful arrangement will have to be worked out.”
Three rounds of meetings have already taken place between the party’s general secretary in-charge (organisation), K.C. Venugopal, Maharashtra in-charge Mallikarjun Kharge and the party’s state chief, Balasaheb Thorat, to finalise the list of ministers, sources told ThePrint.
Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress came together to form the government after Uddhav Thackeray’s party broke its pre-poll alliance with the BJP. The parties negotiated for over three weeks on a common minimum programme, and Thackeray was sworn in as CM on 28 November.
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Current Congress ministers
The two Congress ministers already in the Thackeray cabinet are Nitin Raut and Thorat.
The ministers currently hold six portfolios each — Raut has the public works department, tribal welfare, women and child development, textiles, relief and rehabilitation, and all backward classes, while Thorat has revenue, power, medical education, school education, animal husbandry, and milk and fisheries.
Once the cabinet is expanded, the same portfolios are likely to be split among the Congress’ 12 ministers.
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‘All regions will be represented’
A second Maharashtra Congress leader said the party will have to choose ministers in a way that all regions of the state — Vidarbha, Mumbai, Marathwada and northern Maharashtra — are represented.
Party sources told ThePrint that the list of probables includes various legislators who have either served as ministers before, or been elected to the House multiple times.
Among the favourites is Yashomati Thakur, the MLA from Vidarbha’s Teosa seat whose name was earlier circulating for the Speaker’s chair. Others on the list include K.C. Padvi, Amit Deshmukh, Vishwajeet Kadam, Amin Patel, Varsha Gaikwad and former state ministers Vijay Wadettiwar and Satej Patil, the sources said.
Satej Patil’s name, however, is being hotly contested as he is not a legislator at the moment, they said.
“No one knows who is taking the decisions or delaying them,” said a third Maharashtra Congress leader, adding the final call would come from Congress Legislature Party leader Thorat.
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The Congress is not only the smallest contingent but also the most wishy washy. Half in, half out. In my honest view, simply not up to the task of leading the a Opposition at such an important time in our history.