Shinde to take affidavits from Sena ministers confirming they will leave after half a term

The Shiv Sena led by deputy CM Eknath Shinde will soon take affidavits from its newly sworn-in ministers that they are willing to quit after two and a half years to make room for other contenders.

Minister Shamburaj Desai said the affidavits were being taken so that Shinde could drop them officially if he wanted to.

Shinde declared that his party had adopted a ‘perform or perish’ policy and whoever performed would stay. A close aide of Shinde said, “The Shiv Sena MLAs have neither ideology nor loyalty to Eknath Shinde—all they want is power. We have to distribute the power equitably.”

Three Sena MLAs—Deepak Kesarkar, Abdul Sattar and Tanaji Sawant—who were dropped on the say-so of the BJP and CM Devendra Fadnavis—are said to be very unhappy. Interestingly, Sanjay Rathod, another Sena minister against whom there were many complaints, has been retained despite these. Sources indicated that this was because of his friendship with Devendra Fadnavis. “When he was at the centre of a raging controversy in the MVA government and was removed, he was attacked by the BJP women’s wing but Fadnavis, then in the opposition, was relatively soft on him,” said a source.

Kesarkar, who skipped the Nagpur winter session and swearing-in and went to Shirdi instead to pray to Saibaba, seemed to have faced the situation with equanimity. He told the media that some things happened for the best. “I got the opportunity (to become a minister) twice and will now work for the region,” he said. Shinde is likely to give him some responsibility and a party post.

Sattar and Sawant, the other two who were axed, did not answer calls from this newspaper. Sattar was accused of high-handedness during his tenure, about which the BJP and Shinde received many complaints. Tanaji Sawant’s functioning in the health department and his not following the tendering process in several cases came in for sharp criticism. He also opposed all the IAS officers he worked with, and finally Shinde and Fadnavis asked health secretary Milind Mhaiskar to run the department with a firm hand. Sattar also made controversial statements that landed the government in some embarrassing situations.

Other Shiv Sena MLAs who have not been given ministerships are also unhappy. Narendra Bhondekar of Bhandara resigned from his party posts though he has held on to his MLA post. Prakash Surve, MLA from Magathane, said that if he had got a ministership, he would have given his best.

Shinde has retained his trusted aides—former minister Dada Bhuse from Malegaon, Uday Samant from Ratnagiri, Shambhuraj Desai from Patan and Gulabrao Patil from Jalgaon. Uday Samant, who had a massive celebration in his hometown Ratnagiri, declared that he would work to remove anger from the minds of the MLAs who had been left out. Bharat Gogavale, on the other hand, declared that he had had to wait for a ministerial berth and others too would have to do the same.

Gogawale and Sanjay Shirsat were heading corporations like CIDCO and MSRDC. They will have to resign, as they have become ministers, and the posts can be given to other MLAs.

Shinde has inducted Pratap Sarnaik from Ovala Majiwada in Thane. Now there will be two ministers from Thane city—Shinde and Sarnaik—while Ganesh Naik from the BJP is from neighbouring Navi Mumbai. A regional balance thus has not been maintained.

Konkan has been given good representation, with three MLAs—Samant, (Ratnagiri), Gogawale (Mahad) and Yogesh Kadam (Dapoli)—being made ministers although Kesarkar from Sawantwadi has been dropped. Konkan was said to be the backbone of the Shiv Sena set up by Bal Thackeray, and Shinde has managed to do justice to its representation.

Vijay Shivtare has been given representation from Pune district while Sanjay Shirsat is from Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar. Shinde has given representation to the Brahmin community too—Samant is a Kudaldeshkar Saraswat Brahmin. He has also made Prakash Abitkar from Radhanagari a minister as promised earlier.

Interestingly, there are three former rickshaw drivers from the Shiv Sena in the cabinet. Shinde himself used to drive a rickshaw to make a living. Pratap Sarnaik drove a rickshaw in Dombivali and also sold bhurji pao while Sanjay Shirsat was a rickshaw driver in Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar.