By an uncanny coincidence, during Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh’s tenure, elected representatives from Maharashtra were given the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises. The two beneficiaries were Manohar Joshi and Vilasrao Deshmukh, respectively. This trend continues in the 17th Lok Sabha and Arvind Sawant has landed with the same portfolio, causing some heartburn in the Shiv Sena camp.
Even in the first Modi dispensation, there was no deviation from this custom& the aforesaid ministry was given to Anant Geete from the Shiv Sena. The candidate may have changed, but the portfolio remains the same for BJP’s ally. Sena had, in fact, expected at least three ministries and wanted two cabinet posts and one MoS. But distribution of ministries after the swearing-in ceremony on Thursday upset the Shiv Sena. Arvind Sawant was an MTNL employee for over a decade who then became a union leader. So they were expecting him to be given some technical department.