Maharashtra Government Appoints New Guardian Ministers; Dhananjay Munde Excluded from List

The Maharashtra government released a list of guardian ministers, but NCP leader Dhananjay Munde was not included. Ministers in the state are assigned one or more districts to oversee. This announcement followed the formation of the new BJP-NCP-Shiv Sena government last month. Maharashtra has 36 districts, each requiring a guardian minister.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who also manages the Home department, will be the guardian minister for Gadchiroli, a district affected by Naxal activities. Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has been assigned Beed district along with Pune, his home district. Dhananjay Munde, an MLA from Parali in Beed, previously served as the guardian minister for this central Maharashtra district.

Political Assignments and Controversies

Munde faced criticism from both the Opposition and local BJP MLAs following the murder of sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh in Beed. Walmik Karad, an associate of Munde, was arrested in connection with this case. Despite the controversy, Ajit Pawar did not ask Munde to resign. Munde congratulated Pawar on X, expressing hope that Beed's development would progress under Pawar's leadership.

Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde, another deputy CM, will oversee Mumbai city and Thane district, areas where he holds significant influence. Besides Munde, other cabinet ministers like Dadaji Bhuse and Datta Bharne were also not assigned any districts. State BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule was appointed as the guardian minister for Nagpur and Amravati.

Guardian Minister Appointments

Ashish Shelar was named guardian minister for Mumbai Suburbs with Mangal Prabhat Lodha as co-guardian minister. Both are BJP leaders from Mumbai. Aditi Tatkare of NCP will be the guardian minister for Raigad, a position Bharat Gogawale of Shiv Sena had hoped to secure. Shiv Sena’s Shambhuraj Desai will manage Satara.

BJP’s Shivendra Sinh Bhosale from Satara is now responsible for Latur, while Jaykumar Gore from Satara will oversee Solapur. NCP’s Makrand Patil is in charge of Buldhana. Pankaja Munde of BJP has been made guardian minister of Jalna district. Chandrakant Patil was given Sangli, and Girish Mahajan received Nashik.

Additional District Assignments

The Sena’s Gulabrao Patil has been allocated Jalgaon. Ashish Jaiswal of Shiv Sena will co-manage Gadchiroli with CM Fadnavis. Kolhapur will have Prakash Abitkar as its guardian minister and Madhuri Misal as co-guardian minister. Other appointments include Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil for Ahilyanagar and Hassan Mushrif for Washim.

Ganesh Naik will oversee Palghar, Sanjay Rathod Yavatmal, Uday Samant Ratnagiri, Jaykumar Raval Dhule, Atul Save Nanded, Ashok Uike Chandrapur, Manikrao Kokate Nandurbar, Narhari Zirwal Hingoli, Sanjay Savkare Bhandara, Sanjay Shirsat Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Pratap Sarnaik Dharashiv, Nitesh Rane Sindhudurg.

Akash Fundkar is responsible for Akola; Babasaheb Patil for Gondia; Pankaj Bhoir for Wardha; and Meghana Bordikar for Parbhani. These appointments aim to ensure effective governance across Maharashtra's diverse districts.