Four Maharashtra ministers in Cabinet expansion: Caste equations, regional balance, all come into play

The Narendra Modi Cabinet seems to have balanced well the caste, political and regional arithmetic in its choice of the four ministers from Maharashtra. Narayan Rane, Bharati Pawar, Kapil Patil and Bhagwat Karad have taken oath as ministers in Wednesday’s Cabinet reshuffle.

The party has ensured that the four diverse regions of the state have been represented –– Rane hails from Konkan in the South; Bharti Pawar from North Maharashtra; Bhagwat Karad from Marathwada and Kapil Patil from Bhiwandi in Thane.

RANE: BJP EYES KONKAN
Nayaran Rane’s entry into the ministry is being seen as the BJP’s attempt to consolidate its presence in the Konkan region. Rane, who had joined the BJP in 2019, had to be content with a Rajya Sabha seat as the BJP did not want to upset its then ally Shiv Sena.

Rane was once a former chief minister from the Shiv Sena. However, he quit the party after a bitter feud over Uddhav Thackeray’s leadership.

Rane’s entry into the Union Cabinet would see the BJP locking heads with the Sena in spreading the party’s presence in the Konkan region. Rane also has pockets of influence in Mumbai that would come handy for the BJP during the Mumbai civic polls that would be held early next year, where the BJP would try to wrest the Mumbai civic body from the Sena. The caste factor also works as he is a Maratha. Sources in the BJP claim that Rane could be a given the co-operatives portfolio.

ST POWER IN BHARTI’S ELEVATION
Bharti Pawar, a Scheduled Tribe member, who joined the party just a few days before the 2019 polls, is the daughter-in-law of former Maharashtra minister from the NCP, AT Pawar. Bharti had contested the 2014 parliamentary polls from the NCP. However, she had lost to the BJP candidate. In 2019, after the NCP refused to give her a ticket, she secured a ticket from the BJP with the latter denying threetime sitting MP Harishchandra Chavan a ticket. Bharti’s elevation as a Cabinet minister will send a strong message to those who have joined the BJP in the run-up to the 2019 parliamentary and assembly polls but were feeling left out after the Maha Vikas Aghadi came to power.

KAPIL PATIL: CIVIC POLLS IN MIND
The elevation of Kapil Patil, who joined the BJP in 2014 after quitting the NCP, is again being seen as the BJP’s efforts to reach out to the OBC community after the recent Supreme Court judgement that quashed OBC reservations in the local body polls. The OBC community is a big vote bank for the BJP in Maharashtra. Patil, who belongs to the Agri community, would be of help in the Thane Municipal Corporation and Palghar ZP polls to be held next year. The BJP will try to use Patil to make inroads in Thane, known to be a Sena bastion.

OBC VOICE IN KARAD’S RISE
Bhagwat Karad is known to be a former aide of the late Union Minister Gopinath Munde who was BJP’s OBC face in the state. While there were talks of BJP MP Pritam Munde, younger sister of Pankaja Munde being sworn in, the party has decided to go with Karad who, like Munde, belongs to the Vanjari community.

“It’s a message for those who joined the BJP and were feeling restless and a clever way to balance the caste arithmetic in the state. The BJP is working to get both the Maratha and OBC community before the local body polls that would be held next year,” political analyst Ravikiran Deshmukh told ET.

“Rane will take on the MVA on the Maratha reservation issue whereas OBC leaders would target the state government on the OBCs losing quota,” he said.