Cabinet expansion only if State benefits -- NCP chief

Cabinet expansion only if State benefits -- NCP chief
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

PUNE, APRIL 27: `No unnecessary expansion' continues to be the bottomline for the Maharashtra Nationalist Congress Party, notwithstanding Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh's bid to keep his flock together by announcing plans for another Cabinet expansion and reshuffle.

Going by State NCP president Babanrao Pachpute's assertion, it appears that the NCP, which has been pointing to the growing expenditure on ministers, is very clear on the size of the Cabinet.

``Let the CM convince us that more ministers will ultimately benefit the State,'' Pachpute told The Indian Express, while conceding that Cabinet expansion and reshuffle were the exclusive privilege of the CM and his deputy. Many believe that the proposed expansion of the Cabinet has been chosen by the CM as a way out of the current political turmoil in the State.

There were no discussions on Cabinet expansion either with the NCP bosses or with the CM or Dy CM, Pachpute said.

Incidentally, the size of the Cabinet gave rise to disagreement when the eight-party Democratic Front was being formed six months ago. When Vilasrao Deshmukh inducted 13 Cabinet ministers and 20 Ministers of State on October 27 last in addition to the 26 ministers he had named earlier, the NCP made its annoyance known.

The NCP had charged the Congress with inflating the State Cabinet to an ``objectionable'' size -- those inducted included some known adversaries of Sharad Pawar -- and ``keeping NCP in the dark''. Relations soured to the extent that the NCP even threatened to pull out of the alliance.

And what followed the dispute was a major political impasse in the State, leaving newly inducted ministers virtually jobless for a fortnight after formation of the Government. Making an oblique reference to ``unwanted persons,'' the NCP demanded the Cabinet size be pruned. The party also expressed concern over the burden on the State exchequer in the wake of a 61-member Cabinet.

A truce was reached with the removal of six ministers, including the `most unwanted' Satish Chaturvedi of Congress and independent MLA from Pawar's Baramati constituency Harshavardhan Patil. Others dropped were Madhu Chavan and Bhuishchandra Sawarbandhe (both Congress) and Rajendra Shingne and Rajesh Tope (both NCP).