Special Correspondent
Mumbai: The long-awaited list of Guardian Ministers for various districts in Maharashtra has finally been announced. In a major blow to Dhananjay Munde, the position of Guardian Minister for Beed has been assigned to Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar. Pawar will now hold the charge of two districts—Pune and Beed.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has been named the Guardian Minister for Gadchiroli, while Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde will oversee Mumbai City and Thane. Pankaja Munde has been given the role of Guardian Minister for Jalna.
The removal of Dhananjay Munde from the Guardian Minister’s position for Beed comes amid calls for his resignation following the murder case of Massajog sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh. Previously, Dhananjay Munde served as Beed’s Guardian Minister, but there were demands to assign the role to someone else. Although the position remains with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Ajit Pawar has taken over the responsibility.
Complete List of Guardian Ministers:
Mumbai City: Eknath Shinde
Thane: Eknath Shinde
Pune: Ajit Pawar
Beed: Ajit Pawar
Gadchiroli: Devendra Fadnavis
Nagpur and Amravati: Chandrashekhar Bawankule
Nashik: Girish Mahajan
Sangli: Chandrakant (Dada) Patil
Jalgaon: Gulabrao Patil
Dhule: Jaykumar Rawal
Yavatmal: Sanjay Rathod
Washim: Hasan Mushrif
Jalna: Pankaja Munde
Ratnagiri: Uday Samant
Satara: Shambhuraj Desai
Raigad: Aditi Tatkare
Palghar: Ganesh Naik
Mumbai Suburban: Ashish Shelar (with co-minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha)
Nanded: Atul Save
Chandrapur: Dr. Ashok Uike
Nandurbar: Manikrao Kokate
Latur: Shivendra Singh Bhosale
The new appointments are seen as politically significant, especially in light of ongoing controversies and demands for accountability in certain districts.
