Signs of rift in MVA govt? Cong leaders accuse NCP, Sena of ignoring them

Nagpur: Even as coalition partners in newly formed Maha Vikas Aghadi government are claiming that everything is hunky dory in their ranks, the situation is otherwise. Leaders, particularly from Congress, are deeply upset over the alleged humiliating treatment meted out to them by other two partners, which are stronger in numbers.

A Congress minister told TOI that they were not taken into the confidence by other two partners while taking major decisions. It was initially decided to have two deputy chief ministers from NCP and Congress each but at the end, they were ‘forced to settle’ with the Speaker’s post to Nana Patole, he said.

Endorsing the minister, the newly elected legislators from grand old party said they had even formed a group with a view to pressurize the ministers to do work in their respective constituencies. “We’ve decided to go together to any minister’s cabin so that our voices are heard. Otherwise, we’re hardly entertained by ministers, which included those from our party too. Being first timers, we’re not aspiring for ministerial berths, but want to focus on development works in our constituency, so that voters could re-elect us again,” a couple of them told TOI.

The cracks between the coalition partners are evident even at local level during Zilla Parishad polls. After winning the polls with a big margin, Congress leadership led by animal husbandry minister Sunil Kedar allegedly refused to give deputy chairman’s post to NCP led by home minister Anil Deshmukh. The latter had wanted it for his son Sahil Deshmukh, according to NCP local activists.

While admitting that Congress leadership had denied them deputy chairman’s post, Deshmukh during a media interaction in the city had informed that they had requested for two important posts in the ZP later and expect the Congress to follow ‘coalition dharma’. When confronted, Kedar denied his involvement stating that all decisions were taken by former MPCC chief Manikrao Thakre and others.

A senior Congress leader told TOI that in the cabinet meetings Congress ministers were not given any weightage. “Even portfolios granted to us were of less significance which led to differences between our top party leaders. It was precisely the reason, our high command had earlier opposed our induction into the ministries and suggested only outside support to Shiv Sena and NCP,” he said.

Earlier, relief and rehabilitation minister Vijay Wadettiwar from Congress was upset over allocation of poor portfolios to him, which was later rectified. In the meantime, the sulking minister not only skipped cabinet meetings, but also the special assembly session in Mumbai. There were rumours that he would eventually join BJP and was even invited by former minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule, after which he was allocated proper portfolios.