Maharashtra CM walks tightrope with finance secretary

Given the symbiotic nature of their roles, chief ministers tend to be wary of soiling relations with finance secretaries. Hence, when Congress-NCP ministers started demanding the transfer of principal secretary (planning) Sunil Soni for his high-handedness, Ashok Chavan did what any good-thinking CM would: make cosmetic changes without really rocking the boat. Immediately after the recently concluded assembly session, Chavan reshuffled the top bureaucracy, which included shifting Soni from planning to the reforms department of the finance ministry.

Though the call for Soni’s head has since subsided, woes of ministers who were having a tough time dealing with the secretary have only worsened, as under the new profile — of ensuring austerity in spending — he now holds the purse strings of the finance ministry. These ministers now fear getting funds for their pet projects will become tougher.

On his part, the chief minister appears to have killed two birds with one reshuffle. By transferring Soni, he has conveyed to the ministers that he has taken note of their complaints against the rude bureaucrat. A dejected NCP minister said, “We have landed ourselves from the frying pan into the fire.”

Swadheen trapped in malaria snare
Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) commissioner Swadheen Kshatriya is an unhappy man. Until now known in the corridors of power as Chavan’s blue-eyed boy, he would never have imagined being dressed down by his political master for not checking the spread of mosquitoes which has created a malaria havoc in the city. A section within the government feels the composition of the team he is leading is partly to blame.

Khsatriya has four additional municipal commissioners — Anil Diggikar, Manisha Mhaiskar, Ashish Kumar Singh and Aseem Gupta. Barring Diggikar, the rest are serving their first term in the BMC, and thus are not very clued into the functioning of the civic body. Before BMC, Mhaiskar was posted in Mantralaya as secretary (director of information). Gupta was serving in Nagpur, while Singh was posted in the hi-profile prime minister’s office in Delhi.

Though the babus are used to hopping places and tackling varied situations, it has certainly worked against Kshtriya. The big question before the chief minister now is whether to allow Kshtriya to stay or let him proceed on deputation to the Centre.

Congress-NCP meet in question
The much hailed Congress-NCP coordination committee meeting to resolve the deepening internal conflict between the two allies is nowhere close to taking place. Despite announcing the August 11-12 dates, both sides are now dithering.

A couple of days ago, state NCP chief Madhukar Picchad called on Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) chief Manikrao Thakre to confirm the agenda for the August 11 meeting. To his surprise, Thakre informed him that he was not even aware of the meet, thereby signaling that the Congress state leadership is not yet prepared to break bread with its ally. Union civil aviation minister Praful Patel, the go to troubleshooter in the alliance, also appears to have distanced himself on the pretext that he will be busy with the ongoing parliament session, leaving the NCP top leadership worried how the stalemate will be resolved.

The coordination committee meet was significant in the backdrop of the NCP review meet held in Mumbai last week. Top NCP ministers had complained to NCP president Sharad Pawar about Chavan’s style of functioning, which was its key agenda for the August 11 meeting.