Pune: While the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) are apparently ready with their list of candidates for ministerial berths, the Congress is yet to reveal its cards. Sources in the state Congress disclosed here on Sunday that its leadership is taking time to ensure that all sections of society are appropriately represented in the cabinet of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.
Supporters of former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan in Pune Congress and from Western Maharashtra are demanding that Chavan be given a major position in the cabinet, if not he be put in charge of leading the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) in order to revive the party’s sagging fortunes in the State.
Speaking to newspersons here, Pune Congress general secretary, Ramesh Iyer stated “soon after the Assembly polls, Chavan was among the first from the opposition leaders then to have predicted that the BJP would not get majority and form a government. He subsequently took the lead in ensuring the formation of the MVA coalition. He has a clean image, is extremely knowledgeable, has long experience of overseeing party affairs in other states and knows the pulse of the workers. Chavan ought to be given a major ministerial post considering his contribution to the party”.
He further argued that fresh faces must be inducted at the city and State- levels in order to shore up the party’s organization in Pune district, as several leaders had been holding multiple posts for years together, leading to stagnation in the party and in the district.
According to a political analyst from Pune, Chavan has good relations with Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray which will help in smoothen the rough edges and remove any friction between the Sena and the Congress which are ideologically diametrically opposed to each other.
Considering the speculations rife in the party that Chavan may not be given a cabinet berth, his supporters are aggressively rooting for the Congressman to be appointed MPCC chief. “In the event he is made MPCC chief, it would certainly help in reviving the party’s sagging fortunes in Maharashtra and help in rebuilding the Congress’ moribund organizations before the crucial civic body polls slated in 2022,” said another Congress leader.
In the recent Assembly polls, Chavan had won a stiff triangular contest in Karad South Assembly seat defeating his rivals, the BJP’s Atul Bhosale and Independent candidate Udaysinh Undalkar, son of Chavan’s arch-rival Vilas ‘Kaka’ Undalkar, a senior Congressman who won the seat a record seven times until 2009. His victory was especially creditable as he beat the high-decibel poll campaigns of Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Karad and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Satara in which the duo had targeted the senior Congressman.
Pune district and western Maharashtra offer interesting choices for the party while deciding on whom to nominate in the state cabinet. The Congress leadership in Pune is also rooting for cabinet berth for Sangram Thopate, three-time Congress MLA from the Bhor segment.
Thopate is the son of another veteran Congressman and party loyalist, Anantrao Thopate. A ministerial berth for Sangram Thopate could well turn the Congress’ fortunes around in Pune district which have fallen sharply since former Pune strongman Suresh Kalmadi walking into his political twilight.
Other youthful aspirants for ministerial positions are Vishwajeet Kadam, son of late Congressman Dr Patangrao Kadam, who won the Palus-Kadegaon seat in Sangli and Praniti Shinde, daughter of veteran Congressman Sushilkumar Shinde, who won a humdinger of a contest to retain the Solapur City Central Assmebly seat for the third consecutive time.
Meanwhile, Vidarbha region is set to see a significant representation in the cabinet as the Congress performed particularly well in the region upsetting the BJP in its traditional stronghold. Of the 44 Congress MLAs, 15 are from the Vidarbha region.
Nitin Raut who represents Nagpur North Assembly constituency has already been inducted into the cabinet. The other notable contenders for cabinet berths from Vidarbha include the party’s former Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Legislative Assembly Vijay Wadettiwar, three-time MLA from Saoner, Sunil Kedar – a party loyalist and son of late Congressman Babasaheb Kedar, and three-time MLA Yashomati Thakur, the lone woman legislator from the Vidarbha region.
A Congressman from Vidarbha region contended “Kedar and his family have always stood by the Congress’ fluctuating political fortune in the State. In Wadettiwar, the party has an aggressive leader with a mass base, who has proved capable of taking the BJP head-on. Yashomati Thakur is likely to be offered a cabinet berth keeping in mind the women representation factor from Vidarbha”.
