Mah cancels appointments of Sawant, Waikar on panel and in CMO

The Uddhav Thackeray-led government has cancelled appointments of Shiv Sena MP Arvind

Sawant and party MLA Ravindra Waikar as the chairman of the Maharashtra State Parliamentary Coordination Committee and

Chief Coordinator in Chief Minister's Office, respectively. According to two separate government resolutions

(GRs), dated February 20, both Sawant and Waikar conveyed to the administration that they were not willing to take up the

roles. A Parliamentarian from Mumbai-South seat, Sawant had

in a letter dated February 14 conveyed to the government that he was not willing to take up the role, the GR said.

Similarly, Jogeshwari legislator Waikar had expressed his unwillingness to take up the job in a letter on February

11. The respective GRs do not mention the reasons cited by

Sawant and Waikar. In a meeting of MPs from Maharashtra on January 27,

which was chaired by Thackeray, it was decided that Sawant would be appointed as the chairman of the three-member

state-level parliamentary committee set up to follow up pending proposals related to the state with the Centre.

A GR to this effect was issued on February 14. Sawant was also given the rank of a Cabinet minister.

Waikar was appointed chief coordinator in CMO and also allotted the rank of a Cabinet minister and the GR to this

effect was issued on February 11. He was assigned the responsibility to coordinate with

public representatives and the chief minister on fast-tracking of projects and fund allocations.