Maha: Congress minister Wadettiwar finally gets `relief'

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday officially allocated the Disaster Management and Relief and Rehabilitation departments to Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar. These portfolios were earlier with the Shiv Sena's Sanjay Rathod. In the new arrangement, Rathod has the charge of Forest and Earthquake Rehabilitation departments.

After the allocation of portfolios on January 5, Wadettiwar had stayed away from the first cabinet meeting and did not take charge of his others portfolios, namely, Other Backward Classes, Socially and Economically Backward Classes, VJNT (nomadic tribes) and Earthquake Rehabilitation. He also stayed away from the one-day special session of the state legislature on January 8.

State Congress president Balasaheb Thorat had said that the Relief and Rehabilitation department was originally allocated to the Congress, but it was given to a Shiv Sena minister by mistake. Wadettiwar finally took charge of his departments on January 10 after he was assured that the Relief and Rehabilitation ministry would be allocated to him.

Following the chief minister's recommendation, Governor Bhagat SIngh Koshyari approved the changes in portfolios on Friday, official sources said..

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