Builder Ajay Ashar removed from Maharashtra think tank MITRA

MUMBAI: Prominent builder Ajay Ashar, a close associate of deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde, was on Thursday removed from the position of vice chairman of Maharashtra Institution for Transformation (MITRA), a government agency created as a think tank for transforming Maharashtra into a trillion-dollar economy by 2027.

The government has reconstituted the governing body of MITRA by appointing two new members – Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLA Dilip Walse-Patil and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Rana Jagjitsinha Patil – after dropping Ashar. Shinde’s colleague Rajesh Kshirsagar continues his tenure on the body.

The think tank was founded in 2022 when Shinde was chief minister, and Ashar’s appointment in November of that year kicked up a row in the corridors of power since in a breakaway from norm, a builder was appointed on a crucial government planning body. MITRA was envisioned along the lines of the Centre’s Niti Aayog, with retired IAS officer Praveen Pardeshi appointed as its chief executive officer.

The governing body of the think tank now has three representatives from the three ruling parties, with chief minister Devendra Fadnavis as the chairman and his two deputies as co-chairpersons. The appointments on the governing body are for two years, and people in the know have told HT that they will be given ministerial berths.

The decision is part of Fadnavis’s recent move to abort many decisions taken by Shinde when he was at the helm of affairs, including several populist schemes announced or launched by him ahead of the assembly elections last year. The recent move adds grist to the bitter power tussle between Fadnavis and Shinde.

Reacting to the chief minister’s decision to remove him from the post, Ashar told HT: “I know I have been removed. My consent was taken [before the decision].”