Mumbai: On the surface though the Shiv Sena led tripod government appears to be sailing smoothly, the recent developments might just be the beginning of pulling the carpet from under the feet of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. After walking tight rope for cabinet expansion and portfolio allotment, he is facing his first major crisis. Many prominent ministers in the cabinet are reported to be unhappy with the ‘insignificant’ portfolios that they have been allotted. While many are not speaking about it openly, Congress Minister and former Leader of Opposition in Assembly Vijay Wadettiwar has expressed his dissent for having allotted Earthquake Rehabilitation, OBC and SEBC portfolios.
Wadettiwar is so upset over the ‘insignificant’ portfolio, that he skipped cabinet meeting held on Tuesday and also the special Session of the state Assembly convened on Wednesday. Sources said that Wadettiwar has expressed his concerns with CM Thackeray and state Congress president Balasaheb Thorat. While Thackeray is learnt to have washed his hands saying it was up to the Congress leadership to decide on allotment of portfolios in Congress’ basket, Thorat has apparently tried to pacify Wadettiwar saying something would be worked out soon.
After Abdul Sattar of the Shiv Sena who reportedly ‘resigned’ as Minister of State last week over similar reasons, it is now Wadettiwar who is in the limelight. Highly reliable sources said that Wadettiwar and Sattar are not the isolated ones. They have company of many cabinet colleagues. Getting wind of the unrest, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has promptly jumped on the issue to derive political mileage. BJP leader Chandrashekhar Bawankule has dropped hints that his party will welcome Wadettiwar with open arms if the later wants to. Repeated efforts to contact Wadettiwar proved futile. He did not reply to text messages as well.
Meanwhile, chief BJP spokesperson, Madhav Bhandari said, “this is the tip of iceberg. Things will get clear in the days to come. There is hardly anyone who is happy about this government. Everyone knows that MVA has betrayed the voters for power hunger of few selfish politicians in the state. At present, we will simply wait and watch the turn of events.”
