New governor takes on Maha CM over appointing election commissioner

Newly appointed Governor C Vidyasagar Rao appears to have taken a collision course with the poll-bound government of Maharashtra very early in his tenure. He has sent back a file regarding the appointment of a new state election commissioner asking whether the Cabinet had given its express nod to the move. The Times of India reports that Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan submitted the proposal for appointment of former chief secretary J S Saharia as the state election commissioner in place of Neela Satyanarayan, who completed her five-year term this July. [caption id=“attachment_1695339” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan. Reuters image[/caption] “BJP veteran Rao was Union minister of state for home and commerce in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government and replaced governor K Sankaranarayanan on August 30,” the TOI report adds. The proposal was finally submitted to the Cabinet and a unanimous nod received. The proposal will now be sent back to the Governor. But not before some shock in the Maharashtra cabinet, which “strongly objected to Rao’s move”, according to The Indian Express. This was because, according to the report, the chief minister had said in his proposal that the Cabinet was indeed agreeable to the recommendation of Saharia. “The Chief Minister is the head of the council of ministers. Traditionally, recommendations made by him for appointments to such posts are accepted by the Governor without any queries,” a senior minister was quoted as saying. The report said Home Minister R R Patil objected to Rao’s move during the Cabinet meeting and Chavan had to admit that he too had been taken aback when the proposal was referred back. Patil also reportedly took objection to Rao’s move to call a meeting of police commissioners and the Director General of Police.