Spotlight on Vikhe-Patil
With the BJP wary of the Shinde camp’s motives, Fadnavis did not want to involve Shinde in the negotiations with Jarange-Patil. He picked Vikhe-Patil, who is experienced and himself a prominent Maratha face in western and North Maharashtra
Mumbai: Before the Maratha community could get the benefit of Manoj Jarange-Patil’s latest agitation, the first beneficiary turned out to be Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, the senior BJP minister who heads the state cabinet’s sub-committee on Maratha reservation and led the negotiations with the activist.
Vikhe-Patil was the leader of the opposition in the assembly during Fadnavis’ first tenure as chief minister and led the Congress attack on the government. Ahead of the assembly election in 2019, he quit the party and joined the BJP. He was given the key revenue department during Eknath Shinde’s tenure, and at that point was perceived as future competition for Fadnavis. He also built bridges with the party’s top leaders.
When the BJP-led Mahayuti returned to power in 2024, Vikhe-Patil had to share the water resources portfolio with Girish Mahajan, the less significant department attributed to his not-so-good rapport with Fadnavis. The Maratha agitation came as a timely opportunity for him. With the BJP wary of the Shinde camp’s motives, Fadnavis did not want to involve Shinde in the negotiations with Jarange-Patil. He picked Vikhe-Patil, who is experienced and himself a prominent Maratha face in western and North Maharashtra.
Vikhe-Patil used his skills and managed to convince Jarange-Patil. In last Tuesday’s cabinet meeting, his colleagues even joked that Vikhe-Patil was in the spotlight during the negotiations with the Maratha activist. The minister who represents Shirdi constituency is also happy that he has now emerged as a Maratha face of the BJP and earned the reputation of being a person who could convince Jarange-Patil. So far this was the monopoly of Eknath Shinde.
{{/usCountry}}Vikhe-Patil used his skills and managed to convince Jarange-Patil. In last Tuesday’s cabinet meeting, his colleagues even joked that Vikhe-Patil was in the spotlight during the negotiations with the Maratha activist. The minister who represents Shirdi constituency is also happy that he has now emerged as a Maratha face of the BJP and earned the reputation of being a person who could convince Jarange-Patil. So far this was the monopoly of Eknath Shinde.
{{/usCountry}}BJP’s own Maratha team
{{/usCountry}}BJP’s own Maratha team
{{/usCountry}}As Jarange-Patil’s hordes descended on the city and then camped in South Mumbai, it appeared as if Devendra Fadnavis was getting cornered, as scarcely any senior BJP Maratha leader came forward to defend him. Fadnavis then put Maratha ministers from his party on the sub-committee for Maratha reservation. Vikhe-Patil as well as public works minister and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj descendent Shivendrasinh Bhonsle led the talks and Bhonsle took the responsibility of issuing a notification to use the Satara Gazette for giving Kunbi certificates to Marathas in western Maharashtra, which came as a surprise to many. Through his moves, Fadnavis also ensured that the credit of resolving the Maratha community’s demands went to the BJP and not to either of its two allies led by Marathas.
{{/usCountry}}As Jarange-Patil’s hordes descended on the city and then camped in South Mumbai, it appeared as if Devendra Fadnavis was getting cornered, as scarcely any senior BJP Maratha leader came forward to defend him. Fadnavis then put Maratha ministers from his party on the sub-committee for Maratha reservation. Vikhe-Patil as well as public works minister and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj descendent Shivendrasinh Bhonsle led the talks and Bhonsle took the responsibility of issuing a notification to use the Satara Gazette for giving Kunbi certificates to Marathas in western Maharashtra, which came as a surprise to many. Through his moves, Fadnavis also ensured that the credit of resolving the Maratha community’s demands went to the BJP and not to either of its two allies led by Marathas.
{{/usCountry}}Ajit Pawar caught on the wrong foot
The video of deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar allegedly threatening a woman IPS officer who took action against the illegal extraction of Murrum soil in Solapur drew public ire but has shocked no one in the state administration. For years, officers on the field are used to getting such phone calls from ministers. However, in such cases, a protocol is followed by ministers: they make their personal assistants call through their office phones so that the officer concerned is sure where the call is coming from. In some cases, ministers do not even speak themselves but ask their private secretaries or assistants to “give directions” to the officer. Mantralaya officers are surprised that someone like Ajit Pawar, who is well aware of government norms and protocol, made the mistake of directly speaking on a call made by his party worker.
Officers say that the woman IPS officer Anjana Krishna cannot be held guilty of turning the speakerphone on while speaking on the NCP worker’s phone, as it was not an official call. Now, an NCP (SP) MP from Madha (Solapur) has alleged that the NCP worker did not call Ajit directly but there was a middleman who dialled the deputy CM on a conference call.
Raut’s agenda
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut was one of the first politicians who gave credit for ending Jarange-Patil’s agitation in Mumbai to chief minister Fadnavis, surprising even BJP leaders. “The credit is not just of Jarange-Patil but also CM Fadnavis. He worked out a solution,” said Raut soon after the agitation was called off. He also lauded Fadnavis for “showing patience in handling the agitation”. His agenda was clear: to target Thackeray’s bete noire Eknath Shinde. Raut has been alleging that Shinde provided resources for Jarange-Patil’s agitation with the intention of destabilising Fadnavis. On Friday, he again trained his guns on Shinde. “Things have been sorted out well between both sides but some people are trying to show how the decision was not right,” he said. It is not known if “Devabhau” called up Raut to thank him for publicly saying things that his party colleagues also want to voice.
