Health minister leads high-profile govt exits; Mumbai, Thane gain in Modi’s new Cabinet

Ravi Shankar Prasad was the IT minister and had lately been locked in a bitter tussle with Twitter over new IT rules; (right) health minister Harsh Vardhan also quit on Wednesday

AMID the high-profile exits of top ministers like Harsh Vardhan, Ravi Shankar Prasad and Prakash Javadekar in Wednesday's cabinet reshuffle, Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave Maharashtra more berths, including Narayan Rane, who had merged his political outfit with the BJP two years ago. The big casualties come at a time when the government faces severe criticism over its handling of Covid and poorly judged tech laws.

A Rajya Sabha member, Rane was given the MSME portfolio, which was Nitin Gadkari earlier. Along with ex-CM Rane, a Cabinet minister, Kapil Patil (Bhiwandi Lok Sabha), Dr Bharati Pawar (Dindori Lok Sabha) and Dr Bhagwat Karad (Rajya Sabha) were included as junior ministers. Patil got Panchayat Raj, while Pawar has been made MoS Health. Karad is now MoS Finance.

The state's mix reflected on the socio-political model PM Modi has used for the reshuffle. Maharashtra's new faces come from different communities and regions where the party can use them to its benefit. However, the induction of ‘imported' players started the ‘loyalist versus turncoat' debate within the party. Some in the party said the seniors feared that the outsiders in some critical constituencies might switch sides if not given berths anytime soon.

Earlier, Maharashtra had six ministers, three Cabinet and three MoS. Now it will have eight ministers - three Cabinet and five MoS.

Narayan Rane has been given the MSME portfolio. It was with Gadkari, Kapil Patil from Bhiwandi is now MoS Panchayat Raj, Dr Bharati Pawar Dindori has become MoS Health, Javadekar's resignation was among the high-profile exits

A former Shiv Sena leader, Rane was with the Congress for over a decade. Patil and Pawar switched over to the BJP from the Nationalist Congress Party ahead of the general polls in 2014 and 2019, respectively. Dr Karad, a paediatric surgeon from Aurangabad, has been with the BJP throughout his political career that started from the local civic body.

Before Javadekar, a minister of seven years, was asked to quit on Wednesday afternoon, minister of state Sanjay Dhotre (Akola Lok Sabha), who had found a place in Modi's second team, resigned on health grounds. Other ministers from Maharashtra, Nitin Gadkari, Piyush Goyal, Raosaheb Danve and BJP's ally Ramdas Athawale have been retained.

The significance

Powering Rane with a Cabinet berth means fulfilling a promise that allies like him and Nitish Kumar were given. The ex-CM will be useful in Mumbai's civic polls in which the BJP will again be pitted against the Shiv Sena for supremacy. Rane has never lost an opportunity to attack Uddhav Thackeray. The leader is also expected to regain control in the Konkan fighting against the Sena. His elder son had lost a Lok Sabha seat there, while the younger one won the Assembly twice. Rane himself lost an Assembly seat in 2014 in his fiefdom, and later challenged the Sena in Bandra (E) by-poll, but lost. After he parted ways with Congress, the BJP supported him in the Rajya Sabha polls in 2018.

Rane belongs to the Maratha community which is fighting in the streets and courts for getting the reservation restored. As a Congress minister Rane was instrumental in making the first law that gave Marathas a quota in 2014, but got scrapped in the court. Now, Rane can fuel anti-MVA sentiments and represent the community from the BJP's side.

Bhiwandi's Kapil Patil comes from Thane district which didn't have representation in the union government. He is an Agri, the aboriginal community in the MMR which has locked horns with the Sena over the naming of the Navi Mumbai International Airport. The Agris want the airport named after their illustrious leader, former MP, late DB Patil. With Mumbai and Thane, many other civic bodies in the MMR will go to polls next year. The anger of Agris can be exploited.

Dr Bharati Pawar is a tribal leader from the Adivasi-dominated belt of north Maharashtra. Another Adivasi woman doctor Hina Gavit (Nandurbar) was in contention for the berth. Pawar had quit the NCP just ahead of the polls. Gavit joined the BJP with her ex-NCP minister father in 2014.

One more woman doctor Pritam Munde (Beed) was being tipped as a junior minister, but Dr Karad, also an OBC (Vanjari) leader, was given preference. Marathwada being so expansive, it had only Raosaheb Danve, a Maratha, as its representative. Coming from another influential community Dr Karad, will share the responsibility. Danve has been made MoS Railways.

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No. of ministers from Maharashtra in the new cabinet