Uncle's Home, Sai Baba's Town: Post Getting Finance Ministry, Ajit Pawar's Weekend Travel

Onboard Vande Bharat Express train, Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar left for Shirdi early on Saturday. He was also welcomed by people in Thane, which is the third station from Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus.

A day ago, the deputy CM had visited Silver Oak, the official residence of his uncle and NCP supremo Sharad Pawar. This was apparently the first visit of Ajit Pawar to Silver Oak after he rebelled against his uncle, split the Nationalist Congress Party and joined the Eknath Shinde government on July 2.

The deputy CM had gone to meet NCP chief’s wife Pratibha Pawar, who underwent a surgery at the Breach Candy Hospital in south Mumbai on Friday. The surgery was related to her hand, the functionary from the Sharad Pawar faction said without elaborating.

Ajit Pawar is known to be close to his aunt Pratibha. In 2019 she reportedly played a crucial role in bringing him back to the NCP fold after he and Devendra Fadnavis formed a short lived government post the Assembly polls.

Fondly known as ‘kaki’ among NCP leaders, Pratibha Pawar is often viewed as the matriarch of the party but has never been active in politics.

Also on Friday, Ajit Pawar was allocated the key Finance and Planning portfolio while some of the eight other NCP leaders who joined the state cabinet with him a fortnight ago were also given important portfolios like cooperation and agriculture.

Ajit Pawar getting the finance portfolio is significant as there was stiff opposition to it from Shiv Sena MLAs led by Bharat Gogawale and Prahar party legislator Bachchu Kadu, who claimed that the NCP leader had blocked funds for them when he was finance minister in the MVA government and was responsible for their rebellion against Uddhav Thackeray’s leadership.

New Ministers in Maharashtra with Ajit Pawar’s Entry

• Nationalist Congress Party’s Dilip Walse Patil bagged the cooperation ministry, earlier held by the BJP’s Atul Save.

• NCP’s Dhananjay Munde, nephew of BJP stalwart late Gopinath Munde, got the agriculture portfolio, earlier handled by the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena’s Abdul Sattar.

• CM Shinde himself gave up five ministries — PWD, Marketing, Disaster Management, Relief and Rehabilitation, Soil and Water Conservation and Minority Development.

• The PWD (public sector undertakings) was given to the Shiv Sena’s Dada Bhuse

• Abdul Sattar, who lost the agriculture ministry, was made minister for Minority Development and Marketing. Sattar had drawn criticism for making derogatory comments about NCP Lok Sabha member Supriya Sule and some of his decisions had proved to be controversial.

• Shiv Sena minister Sanjay Rathod was divested of Food and Drug Administration department and given the Soil and Water Conservation ministry.

• The FDA was allocated to the NCP’s Dharmaraobaba Atram.Rathod was earlier forest minister in the Uddhav Thackeray government.

• BJP leader Mangal Prabhat Lodha had to do away with two of his portfolios — Women and Child Development and Tourism. He now has only Skills and Entrepreneurship. Lodha, the richest minister in the Shinde cabinet, was made minister for the first time after the BJP-Shiv Sena government was formed in 2022.

• Of Lodha’s portfolios, the Women and Child Development department was given to the NCP’s Aditi Tatkare, while Tourism was allocated to the BJP’s Girish Mahajan.

• Dada Bhuse from the Shiv Sena received the PWD (public sector undertakings) which handles big-ticket infrastructure projects.

• Bhuse earlier handled Ports Development, which is now given to NCP’s Sanjay Bansode along with Sports and Youth Welfare.

• NCP’s Anil Patil is now Relief, Rehabilitation and Disaster Management Minister.

• Atul Save, the BJP leader who was handling OBC and Other Backward Welfare as well as Cooperation has now been made Housing Development Minister, a department that was with deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis.

• Fadnavis has ceded the Finance and Planning ministry to Ajit Pawar. But the former chief minister still holds Home, Energy, Water Resources, Law and Judiciary portfolios.

• Another BJP minister Ravindra Chavan who was in charge of PWD (excluding public sector undertakings) and Food and Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection ministries is now left with only the PWD ministry.

• Fadnavis confidante Girish Mahajan earlier handled two major portfolios– Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, and Medical Education.

• In Friday’s portfolio distribution, NCP’s Hasan Mushrif got the Medical Education ministry.

(With inputs from PTI)