Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray is set to expand his council of ministers on Monday. The Maha Vikas Aghadi partners -- the Shiv Sena, the NCP and the Congress -- have strived to give representation to various regions, castes and religions, and at the same time made efforts to induct experienced leaders and new faces in the cabinet.
However, what makes the expansion interesting is firebrand leader Ajit Pawar's inclusion as Thackeray’s deputy.Now, as is evident, the MVA government will have a double-edged sword in matters of pushing its policies.
At the same time, with Ajit Pawar at the helm, NCP will leave no stone unturned to regain its hold on its traditional bastion — western Maharashtra, where BJP has made adequate inroads.
Besides, NCP will concentrate on spreading its wings in Vidarbha, Mumbai, Thane as well as tier II and III towns. NCP chief Sharad Pawar will soon launch a state-wide tour in a bid to win over those sections who had voted for the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi in the Lok Sabha and assembly elections.
On the other hand, the Shiv Sena, which broke its 27-year-old alliance with the BJP, is focussing on Mumbai, its goal being the next Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation election slated for 2022.
Apart from Thackeray and Subhash Desai, the party will induct Ravindra Waikar, Sunil Raut and Anil Parab, who is expected to take over as the minister of state for chief minister’s office.
The party plans to tighten its grip on Mumbai in a bid to checkmate BJP which has recently announced is resolve to defeat Sena in the civic poll.
All the three MVA parties have hinted at jointly contesting the polls to the civic and local bodies to defeat the BJP. In addition, the Sena, in an alliance with the NCP and the Congress, wants to further increase its presence in Marathwada, Vidarbha, north Maharashtra and the Konkan region.
Former ministers Bhaskar Jadhav and Uday Samant and party legislator Vaibhav Naik are likely to find place in the cabinet to take on former chief minister Narayan Rane who has been a hard critic of Thackeray and Shiv Sena.
The Congress, in turn, may use this opportunity to revive the organisation. Of the 12 ministerial berths, the Congress had to do a lot of jugglery to accommodate seniors and young leaders from six revenue divisions.
The party had won the Chandrapur Lok Sabha seat and bagged 44 assembly seats, though its performance in the Konkan and north and western Maharashtra has been dismal.
The Congress has shown revival symptoms in the Vidarbha region which was its fort in the past. With the induction of former chief minister Ashok Chavan and former minister Amit Deshmukh from Marathwada, and young leaders, including Satej Patil and Vishwajeet Kadam from western Maharashtra, the party may have to step up efforts to regain its hold.
Induction of veteran tribal leader KC Padvi from Nandurbar is a move to win over its traditional vote bank.
