CM discovers — Damned if you do and damned if you don’t

MUMBAI, JUNE 13: For more than six months now, Chief Minister VilasraoDeshmukh has had to put up with dissidence because he had not madeap...

MUMBAI, JUNE 13: For more than six months now, Chief Minister VilasraoDeshmukh has had to put up with dissidence because he had not madeappointments to 64 coveted posts of state-run boards and corporations. Fromnow on, he could well have problems because he made those appointments onTuesday. For, hard as he would have tried, he failed to accommodateprominent dissident leaders of the Congress as well as the NationalistCongress Party (NCP).

The charge against Deshmukh now is that he has disregarded the claims ofsenior leaders of either party and doled out the posts to sitting MLAs whocould not be accommodated in

the ministry or defeated candidates of thelast election. “We feel that instead of nominating legislators, the Frontshould have appointed senior leaders of the party. By appointinglegislators, Deshmukh and Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal will not beable to contain dissidence within the front,” a senior NCP Ministerobserved.

Left out of the appointments binge was senior NCP leader Shankarrao Kolhe,who had virtually raised a banner of revolt, and other dissident leadersfrom Congress such as Satish Chaturvedi, Narayan Pawar, Prasad Tanpure andShekhar Sawarbande do not figure in the list. While Kolhe was in constanttouch with former Chief Minister Narayan Rane, Chaturvedi and Sawarbandhewere dropped from the Cabinet a day after being sworn in (because the NCPwanted the ministry pruned from 61 to 55). Another highlight of thenominations is that defeated leaders of both the Congress as well as NCPhave been nominated on the key corporations.

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Former Housing Minister Javed Khan, who lost to Shiv Sena nominee VandanaGawli from the Washim parliamentary constituency, has been appointed head ofthe City and Industrial Development Corporation, while former EducationMinister Anantrao Thopte, who lost in the assembly polls, has been appointedas the Chairman of the State Cooperation Council.

Dissident NCP leader Sudhakar Paricharak will be the new Chairman of theMaharashtra State Roard Transport Coporation, while Draupad Sawale will beits Vice-Chairman, a post created during the Sena-BJP rule. Former MayorNirmala Sawant Prabhavalkar will be the new Chairperson of the Women’sCommission, while Suryakanta Patil, who lost in the Lok Sabha elections,will head the Agricultural Research Institute, Pune. Mushtaq Antulay,son-in-law of former Chief Minister A R Antulay has been appointed Chairmanof the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board, while Sanjay Deotale will beChairman of the Forest Development Corporation.

Dashrath Bhande, legislator from Akola will be the new Chairman of theFisheries Development Corporation, Vasant Parshivanikar will head theHandloom corporation, Mafco will be headed by Shivajirao Naik and VijaykumarGavai will be the Chairman of the Khadi and Village Industries Board.

Prakash Mhaske from Pune will be the new Chairman of the Western MaharashtraDevelopment Corporation, Vijay Kolte will head the Pune unit of MaharashtraHousing and Area Development Authority, Sachin Ahir will head Mumbai MHADA,Kundlik Nagare will head Aurangabad MHADA, Naresh Thakre will head Amravati,MHADA. Legislator Dilip Sopal will be the new chairman of the MaharashtraState Financial Corporation, while Ranjeet Deshram will head the StateMining Corporation, Ranjeet Kamble, legislator from Pulgaon, will be the newChairman of the Maharashtra State Small Scale Industries DevelopmentCorporation.