Cabinet reshuffle buzz: Final decision rests with CM Fadnavis, says Bawankule

Nagpur, July 26 (PTI) The speculation about the likely cabinet reshuffle in Maharashtra strengthened on Saturday, with senior BJP leader and minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule stressing that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis' discretion is supreme among allies.

The speculation about the potential swapping of portfolios of some controversial ministers or sacking them gained momentum in light of Fadnavis' recent meeting with Union ministers in Delhi.

Queried about the reshuffle buzz, Bawankule said, "Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, NCP (SP) chief Ajit Pawar and Shiv Sena head Eknath Shinde can decide for their parties, which is their right.

"Respective parties will make their decisions. However, the final decision rests with Fadnavis as he is the chief minister of the state," he added.

He demanded an apology from the leader of the opposition, Rahul Gandhi, after the latter admitted that he could not protect the interests of Other Backward Classes (OBC) in the past as much as he should have done.

Gandhi had also acknowledged his "mistake" of not getting a caste census conducted earlier.

"Rahul Gandhi should apologise to the nation and the OBC community, as it is obvious that the Congress used OBCs as a vote bank. The Congress had done injustice to OBCs," Bawankule said.

He said the caste enumeration decision taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will pave the way for a huge revolution in the country.

The former Maharashtra BJP president took a dig at Saamana amid reports that senior leader Sudhir Mungantiwar will replace Rahul Narwekar as the speaker of the Maharashtra assembly.

"In order to boost the declining readership of (Sena-UBT mouthpiece) 'Saamana' and give more publicity to its owner (Uddhav Thackeray), they are writing misleading news reports," he said.

Meanwhile, Bawankule said if some ineligible men had fraudulently availed of the financial benefits under the Mukhyamantri Mazi Ladki Bahin Yojana, the money should be recovered from them and cases registered.

He was answering a query on around 14,000 men availing of the monthly financial aid under the scheme reserved exclusively for women from the low-income groups who meet the eligibility criteria.

"The chief minister and the government have already clarified. The government will not recover money received by some sisters fraudulently. But if men are involved, I feel the money should be recovered from them and cases registered," the minister added.

Political circles are abuzz with speculation concerning the future of some ministers, mainly of the Shiv Sena headed by Eknath Shinde, amid controversies.

Amid a growing chorus for the resignation of NCP leader and state agriculture minister Manikrao Kokate, Deputy CM Ajit Pawar has assured an appropriate decision after discussing with his colleague.

Kokate is in the eye of a political storm after videos purportedly showing him playing a card game on his mobile phone in the state legislature went viral. The minister had denied allegations against him and threatened to sue the leaders responsible for "defaming" him.

Kokate had triggered controversies in the past with his statements regarding the farming community. PTI CLS NSK