Rules Tweaked to Add Shinde to Disaster Mgmt Committee

The move follows a controversy over his exclusion after Ajit Pawar was appointed to the committee

- Surendra P Gangan

MUMBAI: After snubbing him a few days ago, the BJP-led Mahayuti government has walked back its decision to exclude Shiv Sena head and deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde from the reconstituted State Disaster Management Committee. The government on Tuesday amended the rules to accommodate Shinde on the panel, which includes the state's other deputy CM, Ajit Pawar.

These decisions highlight the running feud between the BJP and Shiv Sena, allies in Maharashtra's coalition government. They are also the latest in a series of decisions that has Shinde cornered even as chief minister Devendra Fadnavis seizes every opportunity to assert his authority.

Only recently, Fadnavis ordered an investigation into the procurement of buses for the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) when Shinde was chief minister and held the transport portfolio in the previous Mahayuti government.

More recently, Fadnavis appointed an IAS officer to head the MSRTC, a post traditionally held by the transport minister, a Sena minister in the current dispensation.