Nagpur: Probably for the first time in the history of Maharashtra, a legislative session has commenced without the portfolios being allocated to the ministers! The winter session of the state legislature opened here on Monday but none of the 33 cabinet ministers inducted less than 24 hours ago had any clue about their work allocation.
Delay has been the hallmark of the latest Mahayuti government. Despite the three-party alliance of the BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP bagging a historic victory on November 23, winning 230 seats in the 288-member state Assembly, it took nearly two weeks for Mahayuti to officially stake claim to form government. At that time, the delay was attributed, rather lamely, to astrological hurdles apart from wrangling over the post of CM and deputy CMs. BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis was anointed CM on December 5. Along with him Sena’s Eknath Shinde and NCP’s Ajit Pawar also took oath at a grand ceremony staged at Azad Maidan.
What followed was another unexplained time lag in selecting ministers. It took half a month to put together a list of probables, with the oath taking ceremony taking place at the last minute on the eve of the winter session traditionally held in Nagpur. Even as the session commenced in the second capital, the newly inducted 33 cabinet ministers and 6 ministers of state had no inkling about their individual responsibilities. Despite this anomaly, the ruling alliance conducted business as if nothing was amiss.
The day started off slow with a motion of condolences for departed leaders, with a depleted opposition led by Nana Patole failing to raise the issues of violence in Parbhani and Beed. Later in the day, the prime issue of supplementary budgetary demands, typically introduced by the finance minister, were tabled by senior Sena minister Uday Samant, though it is common knowledge that the post is reserved for Ajit Pawar.
Dr. Nitin Raut, the former energy minister, recently re-elected as the MLA from Nagpur North for a fifth term, speaking to FPJ commented, “Delays at every stage, under the new Fadnavis government are indeed strange. Never has the Mahatashtra legislative session started without the allocation of portfolios to ministers. In 2019, despite the unforeseen circumstances under which the MVA government was formed, ministries were allocated in much less time. Everything was in place before the commencement of the first session of the assembly”.
Till the filing of this report, portfolio allocation remained a work-in-progress. Chief Minister Fadnavis, however, looked unperturbed by all these delays as he attended the ‘Apne Apne Ram’, a Ram katha featuring renowned poet Dr. Kumar Vishwas, at the ongoing Khasdar Sanskritik Samaroh, organised by city MP Nitin Gadkari.
