Mumbai: Ahead of the Maharashtra assembly polls this year, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has been calling for formal meetings with bureaucrats of different departments to address constituency-level concerns of individual MLAs and politicians.
Over the past three weeks, the CM has held over half-a-dozen such meetings. Some of these involved MLAs and politicians who have raised voices of dissent within the ruling Mahayuti alliance one way or the other. The Mahayuti includes the Shinde-led Shiv Sena, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
According to the CM’s official schedule over the past three weeks, Shinde has convened meetings to address concerns of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray, Shiv Sena MLAs Suhas Kande, Mangesh Kudalkar and Deepak Kesarkar, Shiv Sena MLC Ravindra Phatak, Shinde’s MP son Shrikant Shinde, BJP MLA Ganesh Naik and of Suhas Babar, son of late Shiv Sena MLA Anil Babar.
“Many MLAs approach the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) requesting certain works in their constituencies or to take stock of existing projects in their assembly segments. The CM is trying to look into all these issues before the elections,” an official from the CMO, who wished to not be named, told ThePrint.
In most cases, the CMO also releases a statement about the meeting and how Shinde directed officials to take up relevant works.
Bureaucrats ThePrint spoke to said there’s been at least one such meeting every two or three days where secretaries of the relevant departments are summoned by the CM.
“It’s the same template. The CM gives a hearing to the politician invited for the meeting, and instructs us to ensure we get the work done. Sometimes it’s straightforward. At other times, it’s not. In such cases, we bide our time. If there’s a follow up call from the CMO, we put our mind to it. Otherwise, we move on with other work,” an IAS officer told ThePrint.
Also read: From credit wars with Shinde to hinting at CM ambitions, what’s behind Ajit Pawar’s muscle flexing
Placating MLAs with rebellious tones
Some of the MLAs and political leaders whose works Shinde has directed officers to take up on priority, have spoken in rebellious tones in the past.
For instance, Raj Thackeray was a Mahayuti ally during the Lok Sabha polls but has been giving mixed signals since the election.
Earlier this month, he announced that his party would contest the upcoming assembly poll solo. Two days before this announcement, CM Shinde gave a hearing to Thackeray to discuss various issues related to Worli assembly constituency, where rival Aaditya Thackeray is currently MLA and where MNS is looking to field its candidate.
After the meeting, the CMO released a statement directing officials to take up the issues raised during the meeting on priority.
Earlier this month, Shinde also organised a meeting at the state’s official guest house, Sahyadri, to discuss works related to Kurla assembly constituency in the presence of MLA Mangesh Kudalkar.
A leader of the Shinde-led Shiv Sena, Kudalkar had led residents of Kurla in a protest against a resolution of the state government to hand over a Mother Dairy plot in the neighbourhood for the multi-crore Dharavi redevelopment project, which the government is implementing along with Adani Realty.
In doing so, Kudalkar became a ruling MLA to join the Opposition’s chorus targeting the government for allegedly giving away prime Mumbai plots to favour a developer.
According to a statement from the CMO, the works discussed in the meeting included local works such as decongesting the area outside Kurla railway station and coordinating with the railways to build an overbridge at a crucial railway crossing. The statement said the CM directed officials to ensure these works pick up pace.
Similarly, earlier this month, the CM hosted a meeting to discuss issues in the constituency of his party MLA Suhas Kande from Nandgaon.
Kande had some friction with state minister Chhagan Bhujbal from the Ajit Pawar-led NCP during the Lok Sabha election this year. Kande had alleged Bhujbal was working for the Opposition camp in Nashik and Dindori.
Similarly, the Mahayuti alliance had also faced trouble during the Lok Sabha election for the Thane Lok Sabha seat. BJP MLA Ganesh Naik, who represents the Airoli assembly constituency and whose son, Sanjeev Naik, had been a former MP from Thane, was said to be upset at the seat going to Shinde-led Shiv Sena’s kitty.
Another meeting that the CM convened this month was to discuss a new Rs 87 crore-worth water supply scheme for Vita, a town in the Sangli district, in the presence of Suhas Babar.
A leader from the Shinde-led Shiv Sena said the party is considering fielding Suhas from his father’s erstwhile seat of Khanapur. There are, however, a few jitters within the Mahayuti as Suhas had supported Vishal Patil, grandson of former Maharashtra CM Vasantdada Patil who was then a Congress rebel, in the Lok Sabha election.
After his victory, Patil had extended his support to the Congress and the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance, which also comprises the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) and the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar).
After the meeting, the CMO released a statement saying CM Shinde had directed the relevant authorities to give administrative approval for the scheme.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
Also read: Lok Sabha jolt to strategies that backfired, what’s giving BJP the jitters in poll-bound Maharashtra