On Wednesday, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde revealed the updated roster of guardian ministers assigned to oversee 12 districts within the state. Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar was designated as the guardian minister for the Pune district, a role previously held by BJP's Chandrakant Patil.
Insider sources suggest that Ajit Pawar had been actively seeking the role of guardian minister for the Pune, Satara, and Raigad districts. However, CM Shinde had reservations about relinquishing control over Satara and Raigad, as they fell within the quota of his party, Shiv Sena.
The delay in the appointment of guardian ministers had left Pawar displeased, prompting a meeting on Saturday involving CM Shinde, Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, and Pawar himself, according to sources.
Subsequently, Shinde and Fadnavis hastily traveled to Delhi on Tuesday night for consultations with the top leadership of the BJP. The result of these discussions led to the revised list of guardian ministers, which was released by the Chief Minister's Office on Wednesday.
While the oversight of Satara and Raigad remains unchanged, Pune has transitioned from the BJP's quota to being overseen by Ajit Pawar.
The updated list of guardian ministers for the 12 districts is as follows:
- Pune: Ajit Pawar
- Akola: Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil
- Solapur: Chandrakant Dada Patil
- Amravati: Chandrakant Dada Patil
- Bhandara: Vijayakumar Gavit
- Buldhana: Dilip Walse-Patil
- Kolhapur: Hasan Mushrif
- Gondia: Dharmaraobaba Atram
- Beed: Dhananjay Munde
- Parbhani: Sanjay Bansod
- Nandurbar: Anil Bhaidas Patil
- Wardha: Sudhir Mungantiwar
Satara and Raigad remain under the purview of ministers Shamburaj Desai and Uday Samant, respectively.
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