End of Mahayuti’s tug-of-war for guardianship. NCP loses out as Sena gets Raigad, BJP Nashik

Mumbai: The long-pending dispute over guardian ministers for Mahashtra’s Raigad and Nashik has finally been resolved. The Shiv Sena’s Bharat Gogawale and the BJP’s Girish Mahajan have been appointed guardian ministers for Raigad and Nashik, respectively.

The appointments end a nearly two-year political tug-of-war over the guardian ministership of these two districts, with both the NCP and Shiv Sena claiming Raigad while all three parties laid claim to Nashik.

“So I thank my party and CM for taking note of my work. Earlier also I was looking after this district and am a Kumbh Mela mantri, but now I will work harder,” he added.

Shiv Sena MLA Mahendra Dalvi from Raigad district expressed his happiness that his party colleague, Bharat Gogawale, was finally appointed guardian minister of Raigad

“We are really happy that Gogawale sheth has been appointed as the guardian minister. In real terms, Raigad now has a strong guardian minister,” he told the media.

Earlier, the NCP’s Aditi Tatkare was looking after Raigad. And both the NCP and Shiv Sena were vying for the post.

According to NCP sources, the deadlock was resolved when Aniket Tatkare, son of Sunil Tatkare and brother of Aditi, was chosen from the Mahayuti for the Maharashtra Legislative Council seat from the local authorities’ constituency Raigad-Ratnagiri.

Bharat Gogawale had been pushing for his son to get this post.

“But according to the adjustments, we got the Vidhan Parishad seat and Shiv Sena got the guardian ministership,” an NCP leader told ThePrint.

The deadlock also extended to Nashik.

Last year, senior NCP leader from Nashik, Chhagan Bhujbal, told the media that if the party was claiming Raigad with only one MLA, it had an even stronger claim to Nashik where it had at least seven MLAs.

Last month, posters were put up in Nashik saying Bhujbal should be made the guardian minister after at least five people died in Nashik because of potholes. However, Bhujbal later clarified that he was not in the race.

The issue arose when the Mahayuti came to power in 2024, and guardian ministers were chosen for all districts.

Initially, Girish Mahajan and Aditi Tatkare were chosen for Nashik and Raigad, but that did not go down well with the Shiv Sena, which insisted on both posts.

In January 2025, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis put these posts on hold, and since then, Mahajan and Tatkare have been looking after these districts as caretakers. The issue had been pending since.

(Edited by Sugita Katyal)

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