MUMBAI, July 30 -- While their respective party chiefs abstained from taking any action on them for courting controversies, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis shot a sharp message to errant ministers of the Mahayuti when he addressed all his cabinet colleagues on Tuesday, saying he would be "compelled to take action if anyone embarrasses the government by creating fresh controversies". Fadnavis's move came after deputy chief minister and head of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Ajit Pawar reprimanded agriculture minister Manikrao Kokate, who was caught playing an online card game while attending proceedings at the legislative council recently. Pawar had summoned Kokate to his chamber at the Mantralaya "to point out how his action had maligned the government's image," said a senior NCP leader. "I have given you several chances in the past but this time things have gone far. The chief minister has expressed his displeasure to me," Pawar told Kokate, compelling him to apologise. The CM had rushed to New Delhi last week, to meet Union home minister Amit Shah and president of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) J P Nadda, purportedly to discuss the errant ministers; a BJP minister had also indicated that a reshuffle was on the cards, as reported by HT. After the weekly cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Fadnavis had a 20-minute-long session with his ministers. People present in the meeting told HT that Fadnavis did not mince his words while expressing his unhappiness "over the behaviour of certain ministers who were defaming not just themselves but also the government". "He told ministers that they should not harbour an illusion that there will be no action just because they belong to the ruling combine, and reiterated that many among them had already been given a long rope," said a minister, requesting anonymity. The CM also said, erring ministers had deflected attention from "all the good work that the Mahayuti government was doing" and advised them to be guarded in public. He told them that occurrences such as the recent "letter war" between social justice minister Sanjay Shirsat and minister of state for urban development Madhuri Misal, "should be avoided and differences settled internally", a BJP leader said. Fadnavis's move also points to the fact that no action will be taken on the errant ministers for now. After the heads of the two ruling Mahayuti partners - Shiv Sena president Eknath Shinde and NCP chief Ajit Pawar - decided against action on them, the CM has also put his plan of action on ice, said those in the know of things. The reason behind the restraint by both the CM and his two deputies, according to insiders, was also to avoid offering fodder to the Opposition. "They has been demanding the ministers' resignation - their eyes firm on Kokate and Yogesh Kadam (the Shiv Sena minister who was slammed by the Opposition with allegations that a dance bar was being illegally run in Kandivali licenced under his mother's name). The CM felt any action on the ministers should not come on the heels of the Opposition's demand. Shinde has clearly told him that his ministers cannot be sacked, while Pawar was under pressure from his leaders to not fall under BJP's pressure," said a Shiv Sena leader. The NCP leaders HT spoke to also pointed out that Kokate's act was negligible compared to someone like Shirsat (Shiv Sena), in whose home a bag of cash was found recently, and said any punishment should be equitable. "There is no pressing need to take immediate action against Kokate. Even if the leadership decided to take action against him it will be no more than changing his department," said a senior NCP leader, underlining that Kokate belongs to the Maratha community and his ouster will have negative ramifications in the cabinet and community. "It is clear now that no one will be sacked and the reshuffle of portfolios is also unlikely immediately," said the Sena leader....