06 December,2014 07:35 AM IST | | Ravikiran Deshmukh
Both the BJP and the Shiv Sena seem to have catered to their vote banks and looked at political equations while nominating members to the Fadnavis cabinet; while BJP nominated five from Vidarbha, Sena sent the same number from Mumbai
It seems that rather than looking for the best person for each ministry, the BJP and its new-old ally Shiv Sena have focussed on politics and making their vote banks happy while choosing the ministers that were sworn in yesterday.
As opposition members, Shiv Sena MLAs Eknath Shinde (circled, left) and Ravindra Waikar (circled, right) were at the forefront of the protest which also saw the governor being heckled against the way the BJP had conducted the trust vote on November 12. File pic
Both parties, which got to induct 10 new ministers each, have catered to specific regions which are either their strongholds, or where they want to regain a foothold.
Shinde being sworn in as a cabinet minister yesterday. Waikar was sworn in as a minister of state. Pic/Sayed Sameer Abedi
While the BJP chose to pick up five faces from its stronghold Vidarbha, from where 44 of its candidates got elected as MLAs, the Sena signalled its intent to shore up its fortunes in Mumbai, where the BJP had emerged as the number one party during the last elections, with 15 of its candidates making it as MLAs.
With this in mind, and with an eye on the 2017 BMC polls, the Sena went with five faces from Mumbai and surprisingly gave no representation to its bastion of Marathwada.
