Today in Politics: Maharashtra Cabinet expansion; All eyes on posts

“The Cabinet expansion will take place on Sunday at 4 pm,” a highly placed source in the Mahayuti said.

The Cabinet expansion will take place ahead of the Winter Session commencing in Nagpur on Monday.

The composition of the Cabinet that has emerged is: BJP may get 21 berths (including CM), Shiv Sena 12 (including deputy CM) and NCP 10 (including deputy CM).

The high-profile Home portfolio, which had become the bone of contention between the BJP and Shiv Sena, will be retained by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Despite pressure from the Shiv Sena, the central leadership of the BJP stuck to its stand and refused to yield to their demand. Instead, the BJP has willingly conceded the key portfolio of Urban Development to the Shiv Sena. Another important portfolio, which saw the three partners caught in a power tussle, was Finance. However, after much deliberation that lasted the past 20 days, the BJP has agreed to give it to the NCP.

Apart from power tussles with alliance partners, the BJP also had to confront challenges within the party with the number of aspirants exceeding the number of berths. Among the reasons cited for the delay in Cabinet expansion was also BJP’s tightrope walk to draw its list of ministerial candidates.

The challenges before Eknath Shinde were manifold as he not only had to climb down from CM to Deputy CM post personally but also had to contend with a dozen Cabinet berths. The Shiv Sena won 57 seats in the Assembly polls. Its strength rose from 40 seats which it had when it walked out of the parent party led by Uddhav Thackeray in June 2022.

While Ajit Pawar also made concerted efforts to seek more seats and important portfolios there were limitations. Though he seems to have succeeded in getting the Finance portfolio, sources revealed.

Parliament Constitution debate

Meanwhile in Parliament, the special debate on the Constitution was closely watched on Saturday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the Nehru-Gandhi family — from India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to former Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi to Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi — had committed the “sin” of denigrating, damaging and subverting it.

Replying to the two-day debate in Lok Sabha on the “Glorious Journey of 75 Years of the Constitution of India”, Modi also countered the Congress’s pitch for a caste census and removal of the 50 per cent cap on reservation. Saying that the Congress had always opposed reservation, Modi said the party was now playing a game to bring in quota on the basis of religion.

Significantly, Modi also reiterated his government’s commitment to a Uniform Civil Code, saying it was focussing all its strength on bringing a “secular civil code”, in keeping with the “spirit of the Constitution”.

Rahul Gandhi and the Congress have been talking the language of social justice for some time now – from goals like equitable representation for castes to a nationwide caste census. On Saturday, Gandhi added another layer to his pitch, bringing in Eklavya, the noted archer from the Mahabharata who belonged to a “lower caste”, apart from mentioning V D Savarkar in the context of Manusmriti.

Gandhi also spoke at length about Ekalavya.

He said that Dronacharya, teacher to royals like the Pandavas, had refused to take on Eklavya as a disciple as he was born a “low-caste” Nishad; how Eklavya taught himself archery with the help of a clay image of Dronacharya as his guru (as per the Mahabharata); and how Dronacharya still had his way by asking for Eklavya’s right thumb as his due as teacher, thus ensuring he couldn’t use a bow and arrow again.

Gandhi said that, similarly, the Narendra Modi government was cutting off the right thumb of disadvantaged youngsters to snatch their skills and talent. “Like Dronacharya cut the thumb of Eklavya, you are cutting the thumbs of India’s youngsters.”