Ashok Chavan does not hand over responsibility to Bhujbal or Rane; senior ministers in competition to show they’re in control.
Who’s in charge of the state? Chief minister (CM) Ashok Chavan has left the answer hanging. He is on a 12-day tour abroad, but has not handed over responsibility to anybody. The result: All senior Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) ministers are busy holding marathon meetings at Mantralaya to show they are in charge.
On Wednesday, deputy CM Chhagan Bhujbal held meetings to review the impact of the monsoon, finance minister Sunil Tatkare had meetings over finances and revenue minister Narayan Rane discussed Konkan matters.
An NCP source said: “Ideally, Chavan should have held discussions with Bhujbal and asked him to take charge in his absence.” Even senior Congress ministers are in a sulk. What is irking them is that Chavan has distributed charge of his important portfolios — urban development, housing, mines and law & judiciary — among his loyalists: transport minister Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, industry minister Rajendra Darda, social justice minister Shivajirao Moghe and parliamentary affairs minister Harshvardhan Patil.
It was expected in Congress circles that revenue minister Narayan Rane, a former CM, would handle responsibilities in Chavan’s absence.
“It shows the CM has not shown faith in even Rane,” senior Congress minister Patangrao Kadam said.
A source close to Rane said: “Rane does not need any certificate from the CM. His stature in the Congress and the cabinet is already established.”
The CM’s office underplayed the controversy. “Officially, every minister is responsible for his department. Moreover, chief secretary JP Dange is there to tackle any emergency,” a source said.
A senior minister close to Chavan said: “Whenever CMs go abroad, they hand over portfolios to trusted colleagues. Why should any CM hand over charge to his competitors?” Citing the case of Vilasrao Deshmukh, he said that whenever the former CM went abroad, he would entrust confidante Balasaheb Thorat with his portfolios.
But Deshmukh used to make it clear that deputy CM (then) RR Patil was in charge in his absence.
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