Rumblings in the MVA continue

Uddhav Thackeray and Ajit Pawar

The power tussle within the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) continued after a Congress minister had to scrap the appointments of non-government people on the electricity companies, and in exchange, his party demanded that it be allowed to control a state-sponsored institution which works exclusively for the Maratha community. The energy minister was accused of taking a unilateral decision, while an NCP minister, who declared early this month that a community-specific firm would be amalgamated with his department, also faced a similar allegation.

Hours before the state cabinet met on Thursday, it was known that energy minister Nitin Raut was told by his party to cancel the appointments of non-government people on the electricity generation, transmission, distribution firms and their holding company. State Congress president and revenue minister Balasaheb Thorat confirmed the development, saying the new appointments would be made after consulting MVA partners. But he also demanded that SARTHI, a company established by the previous government for the welfare of Marathas, be given back to the Congress to run. The statement, however, exposed chinks in the Congress camp as its own minister Vijay Wadettiwar was involved in handing the company over to deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar on July 9.

However, before Pawar could take the proposal before the Cabinet (the matter did not come up on Thursday), Thorat said since Congress had been handling Maratha-related issues, it would also be given back to them. With SARTHI at hand, a Maratha leader himself, Pawar would be able to appease the state's largest vote bank that has been traditionally helping the NCP. From the Congress's side, its ex-CM and incumbent PWD minister, Ashok Chavan, heads a sub-committee of ministers to handle the Maratha reservation issue, but giving up SARTHI to the NCP would be a great political loss to Congress. The reservation case is in the final stages of hearing in SC and considering apprehensions over its outcome, caste politics is on the rise again.

Before Pawar announced his decision, Wadettiwar controlled a Pune-based SARTHI, but upset with allegations that he was partial in treating Marathas, the ministers chose to leave the company control and agreed to Pawar's proposal. It could not be confirmed whether Wadettiwar had consulted senior party leaders before consenting to Pawar's proposal because he didn't answer our calls.

CM Uddhav bonds with Ajit Pawar

CM Uddhav Thackeray and Deputy CM Ajit Pawar met on Thursday before the Cabinet meeting. This is seen as a deliberate effort to coordinate on the government and political affairs to ensure that things don't go out of control in the backdrop of the political situation in other states and dissenting voices in NCP over the CM's readiness to participate in the Ram temple groundbreaking ceremony next month.

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