Mumbai: In a first in many years, all 28 state cabinet ministers, from each of the three constituents of Mahayuti, have been re-elected to the assembly. Political observers said this shows that all ministers beat anti-incumbency mood and allegations of betrayal. All ministers, especially those from Shiv Sena and NCP, had faced backlash and attacks from Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP).
Even those who triggered rows with controversial statements have won, like Tanaji Sawant and Abdul Sattar from Sena.While some of them were ministers only for two-and-a-half years, like those from BJP who joined govt in 2022 and some from NCP who joined the following year. Others from Sena served a full term of five years; they were also ministers in the MVA govt from 2019-22.
“This is a feat that all sitting ministers have won. Usually, anti-incumbency affects ministers since they are in power and people have more expectations from them. Top ministers like Chhagan Bhujbal and Dhananjay Munde have won, and so have ministers like Tanaji Sawant, Abdul Sattar, Shambhuraje Desai, Gulabrao Patil, Uday Samant and Aditi Tatkare. This shows that there was pro-incumbency for this govt and people have voted them back to power. However, how many of them get a cabinet berth again remains to be seen,” said a political observer.
Ministers like Sawant had courted controversies repeatedly with their statements ahead of the election. In a major embarrassment for Mahayuti, Sawant had said that he had never got along with NCP leaders all his life and that sitting next to the NCP chief (Ajit Pawar) during cabinet meetings induced an adverse reaction in him. Prior to that, he told a senior police officer in Dharashiv district that he didn’t even listen to the chief minister and, therefore, the officer would have to do as he said. In a video that went viral, Sawant was seen talking to Dharashiv superintendent of police Atul Kulkarni and reportedly demanding the transfer of a police inspector in the district.
Sattar had sparked a row during an attack on Sena (UBT)’s Aaditya Thackeray by resorting to name-calling. He also asked Beed collector Radhabinod Sharma if he drank alcohol while on a tour of the district to inspect crop damage caused by the retreating monsoon. At that time, Sattar, former minister Arjun Khotkar and some officers were sitting for tea.