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By:

Abhijit Mulye

21 August 2024 at 4:59:11 pm

Marathwada on boil

Mumbai: Emboldened by his fiery stance, local coordination committees issued an ultimatum to the administration, declaring a complete Marathwada Bandh for Thursday, with voluntary shut-downs already paralyzing towns across Latur, Nanded, and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. While essential services are expected to function, wholesale agricultural markets, commercial centres, government establishments, and educational institutions face forced closures. In dozens of ham-lets across Marathwada,...

Marathwada on boil

Mumbai: Emboldened by his fiery stance, local coordination committees issued an ultimatum to the administration, declaring a complete Marathwada Bandh for Thursday, with voluntary shut-downs already paralyzing towns across Latur, Nanded, and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. While essential services are expected to function, wholesale agricultural markets, commercial centres, government establishments, and educational institutions face forced closures. In dozens of ham-lets across Marathwada, villagers erected banners banning politicians from entering, declaring a complete boycott of elected leaders until statutory reservation is codified. Faced with escalating turmoil, the state machinery initiated high-level consultations to defuse the standoff. The Cabinet sub-committee on Maratha reservation met in Mumbai before key minis-ters travelled to Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, attempting to open negotiation channels with Antarwali Sarati. Administrative emissaries and local legislators were sent to the protest site to persuade Jarange to accept medical aid, assuring him that administrative hurdles were being dismantled. Speaking to reporters, Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, Chairman of the Cabinet sub-committee, em-phasized that the administration was actively awaiting a breakthrough. “We are waiting for their response. We shall immediately go to Antarwali Sarati if they indicate possibility of discussion over the draft,” he said. The minister further explained that as per demands the authorities had already furnished a pen drive containing 58 lakh Kunbi caste records to the agitators, noting that the procedure to grant certificates based on the historical Hyderabad Gazetteer has com-menced, with 3,300 certificates already distributed. Vikhe-Patil also gave assurances that dedi-cated divisional camps would soon be set up across Maharashtra to expedite all pending applica-tions. Simultaneously, the Chief Minister reiterated the state’s commitment to an equitable resolution while appealing for restraint. “We appeal to Manoj Jarange Patil to prioritize his health and coop-erate with medical teams. Street violence and blocking highways will only cause hardship to or-dinary citizens, farmers, and students. Dialogue remains the only viable path to an enduring solu-tion,” he said. Despite these administrative assurances, the rift between the agitators’ demand for an immedi-ate blanket notification and the government’s procedural constraints remains wide. With youth staging relay fasts outside district collectorates and activists threatening an en masse march to Mumbai, Maharashtra stands on a delicate precipice as law enforcement braces for Thursday’s region-wide shutdown. Addressing the swelling crowds at his protest marquee on Wednesday afternoon, Jarange issued an unsparing warning to the government. “The government has tested our patience enough. We are not sitting here to beg for char-ity; we are demanding our constitutional right that was denied for generations,” Jarange told the gathering. “If a sin-gle drop of blood is spilt or if anything happens to my life, the government alone will bear the responsibility for the fury that follows across Maharashtra. We will not take a single step backward until the notification is in our hands.”

Unrest within Mahayuti

Updated: Jan 21, 2025

Mahayuti

Mumbai: The state administration on Sunday stalled the appointments of guardian ministers in Raigad and Nashik districts. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had cleared the appointments before he left for Davos in Switzerland to attend the World Economic Forum on Saturday. They are believed to have been stalled on behest of Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who heads the state in absence of the Chief Minister.


NCP’s Aditi Tatkare and BJP’s Girish Mahajan were entrusted with responsibilities of guardian minister for the Raigad and Nashik districts respectively, where Shiv Sena’s Bharat Gogawale and Dada Bhuse had staked claims. Gogawale is a first-time minister while, Bhuse had been the guardian minister of the district during previous government under Eknath Shinde.


Shiv Sena, NCP and BJP all the three constituents of Mahayuti have strong roots in both the districts. However, the Shiv Sena and the NCP had been particularly on loggerheads there. The Shiv Sena, which had been demanding the guardian minister’s post in Nashik district has managed to win only two assembly seats in the district where the NCP has Six and the BJP has Five MLAs. On the contrary, in Raigad the NCP has won only one seat while the Shiv Sena and the BJP both have Three MLAs each in the district.


Sunil Tatkare, MP from Raigad Lok Sabha constituency and the stat unit president of the NCP and father of Aditi Tatkare, had been the guardian minister of Raigad between 2004 and 2014. Gogawale had always been his political opponent before Tatkare joined the Mahayuti government under Ajit Pawar’s leadership in 2023. Gogawale claimed that all the Six Shiv Sena-BJP MLAs in the district had opined in his favour to be the guardian minister of the district and after the decision to appoint Aditi Tatkare was announced, his supporters resorted to violent protests. They burnt tyres in bid to stall traffic on highway in the district. Reacting to the developments, Tatkare said that the issue should be pondered over after CM Fadnavis returns from Davos on Saturday and settled amicably.


In Nashik Girish Mahajan had been the guardian minister of the district between 2014 and 2019 when Fadnavis was the Chief Minister.


The post of guardian minister doesn’t have any constitutional mandate and is considered to be a political appointment. Guardian ministers head the district planning and development councils (DPDC) that control the funds for development works being carried out in the particular district. This control wields much of political power to the minister in that district whereby spreading the party in the district becomes much easier. This is the reason why the grass root politicians seem to be very sensitive to such appointments.


While Gogawale and Bhuse are unhappy about not being appointed as guardian ministers, some others like NCP’s Hasan Mushrif and BJP’s Pankaja Munde are unhappy about not being appointed as guardian district in their home districts of Kolhapur and Beed respectively. DCM Shinde is learnt to have gone to his ancestral village Dare in Satara district after the decision and BJP’s firefighters Chandrashekhar Bawankule and Girish Mahajan are expected to meet him there to try finding a way out of the issue.

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