NAGPUR: Trouble seems to be brewing for the new Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, as Minister of State for Home Affairs Nitin Raut yesterday surrendered his official ministerial red beacon vehicle to the collector of Nagpur as a protest of not being given a berth in the Cabinet expansion on Thursday.
According to sources, Raut has threatened to resign from the Congress party-led Democratic Front government and senior Congress leaders are making efforts to defuse the situation by urging Raut not to take the drastic action, specially at a time when the crucial Lok Sabha elections are round the corner.
Raut is camping in Nagpur, and efforts by Arab News to contact him have failed as he had switched off his cell phone. His residential landline phone was also constantly engaged and telephone officials said that the phone was put off the hook.
As a matter of fact, Raut is in two states of mind, whether to resign or not, and he is not making his stand known clearly on this aspect. This means that Raut wants to exert pressure on Chavan. When journalists went to his residence, he refused to meet them, sending a message through an emissary that he was unwell.
Raut wanted a Cabinet minister berth instead of the minister of state rank which he is holding at present, but he was disappointed as Chavan did not include his name and upgraded to the rank that Raut had demanded. And since this did not happen Raut became upset and has been threatening to resign from the state government.
On Friday, Narayan Rane was inducted as minister for industries, Radhakrishna Vike Patil as minister for urban development and Naseem Khan as minister of state for home (urban).
The division of the Home Ministry portfolio, with Khan sharing a important part, also made Raut angry, who said that it was his humiliation as he was not consulted on Khan sharing the homo portfolio with him.
