Mumbai:

The row over denial of ministerial berth to Chhagan  Bhujbal is escalating, with the Nationalist Congress leader leaning away from Ajit Pawar and towards the BJP. Chhagan  Bhujbal is making it clear that he intends to take action, but keeps everyone guessing about what that action will be – walking over to the BJP or forming a new party. That is, unless he is suitably compensated for the loss of the ministerial berth.

Ajit Pawar, meanwhile, is maintaining a stony silence – not unlike the time he shifted from the Maha Viaks Aghadi to the ruling alliance. He even skipped the Day One of the Assembly session yesterday – which is usually devoted to formalities including homage to MLAs who died.

He maintained silence even when Eknath Shinde and Devendra Fadnavis clarified the reason why some of their ministers were not given a chance this time. He did not attend the session today either and has been incommunicado. It is believed that he is still in his Nagpur residence.

A top NCP leader has told NDTV, “He had expressed a desire to go to Rajya Sabha a few months ago. His wishes will be honoured shortly. We are going to do the needful”.

Mr Bhujbal took the opportunity to go public with his grievances, declaring that he would find out who had denied him the ministerial berth despite Mr Fadnavis being in favour of his induction into the Cabinet.

“Fadnavis wanted me in the cabinet. Bawankule (State BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule) told me that till the end Fadnavis was trying to push for my name,” he said.

“Ajit Pawar and Praful Patel had said that they will discuss with me about giving me a ministerial berth. But they did not sit down for a discussion. No one from Ajit Pawar or Praful Patel’s office called me. I am not a toy in their hands,” he told his supporters in Nashik.

“The Rajya Sabha seat came up. I said ‘let me go’, but I was not given ticket,” he said, claiming that he was told at the time that he was needed in the state. Now he has been offered a Rajya Sabha seat again but he could not quit as an MLA since that would be unfair to those who voted for him.

Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) MLA Jitendra Awhad said not including Chhagan Bhujbal in the Maharashtra cabinet was a move to end his political career, but he is someone who would not give in easily.

“Looking at his age, temperament, his fight, he should have got justice. The Maratha-OBC divide (a reference to the Maratha quota protest and the counter-protest by the OBC) was engineered by the (Eknath Shinde-led) government that was in power then,” the former minister said.

“Now, the same Bhujbal has been relegated to the rear seat. Decision has been taken to end the Bhujbal chapter, but he is not the one who will give in,” Mr Awhad said on his former party colleague.

Mumbai:

Eleven key ministers from Maharashtra’s ruling alliance Mahayuti have been dropped from the brand new government headed by Devendra Fadnavis, giving rise to considerable disquiet among their supporters. Protests have broken out in pockets by supporters of some of the leaders – especially in Yeola by supporters of Chaggan Bhujbal.

Of the three constituents of the ruling alliance, Ajit Pawar’s faction of the Nationalist Congress Party have dropped the most – five of its key leaders, Chhagan Bhujbal, Dharmarao Baba Atram, Sanjay Bansode, Dilip Walse Patil and Anil Patil have been dropped. The corresponding number from the BJP and Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena are three each.

The BJP has dropped Ravindra Chavan, Sudhir Mungantiwar and Vijaykumar Gavit while the Sena has kept out Tanaji Sawant, Abdul Sattar and Deepak Kesarkar.

Chhagan Bhujbal has openly declared that he would not attend the assembly session any more and will return to Nashik, saying he has been disappointed. He also said he has been offered a Rajya Sabha seat but accepting it now will “not be fair” to the voters of Yeola.

The other big leader dropped, Sudhir Mungantiwar, has contradicted Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’s claim that he was dropped after a “long discussion”.

“We had a long discussion with Sudhir Mungantiwar on the expansion of the cabinet. If he does not get a ministerial berth, there is a possibility that he will be given some big responsibility by the party,” Mr Fadnavis had said.

Mr Mungantiwar refuted the claim, saying Devendra Fadnavis did not have a long discussion with him about the ministerial post. They spoke only spoke on the day of the expansion. Mr Fadnavis and state BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule had said that his name was on the list of ministers the day before the cabinet expansion, but it turned out otherwise, he added.

There are others who were apparently in the running for a cabinet berth but ended up empty-handed. The Sena especially is facing backlash, with one of its MLAs, Narendra Bhondekar, having already quit party posts.

Vijay Shivtare, the MLA from Purandar, said he was “not sad over ministership, but the treatment meted out”.

“The three leaders didn’t communicate properly. I will not take ministership even if given after 2.5 years,’ he told reporters, refering to the two-and-a-half-year formula for ministers who were inducted.

“Workers are not slaves. I am not needy, just the treatment was not good. Maharashtra is on the path of Bihar because we are not looking at regional balance but caste balance,” he added.

Prakash Surve, the MLA from Magathane, said he was the first MLA to join Mr Shinde after the rebellion.

“I am a simple man, achieved everything after a struggle and will continue to do so. Many who demanded (cabinet berths) are children of big names, I am not. Had to shift my family after I went with Shinde,” he said.

The murmurs of protest come amid Mr Bawankule’s assertion that there was no dispute over the allocation of cabinet portfolios. “There is no delay in allocating portfolios to the ministers. There is no dispute. I was also part of the talks and the matter stands finished. There is no dispute and it will be announced soon,” Mr Bawankule was quoted as saying by news agency IANS.

The new government has already promised audit of the new ministers. Mr Fadnavis, who made the announcement, said those from the Eknath Shinde cabinet not accommodated this time have been dropped because of their performance.

Twenty-Five new faces have found a place in the Cabinet — Chandrashekhar Bawankule, Ganesh Naik, Jaykumar Rawal, Pankaja Munde, Ashok Uike, Ashish Shelar, Dattatreya Bharne, Shivendraraje Bhosale, Manikrao Kokate, Jaykumar Gore, Narhari Jirwal, Sanjay Savkare, Sanjay Shirsat, Pratap Sarnaik, Bharat Gogavale, Makarand Patil, Nitesh Rane, Akash Fundkar, Babasaheb Patil, Prakash Abitkar, Madhuri Misal, Ashish Jaiswal, Pankaj Bhoyar, Meghna Bordikar, Indranil Naik.

Of the 39 ministers who took the oath, four women legislators have been inducted including Pankaja Munde, who had worked as the minister of woman and child welfare in the Devendra Fadnavis-led Cabinet between 2014 and 2019, Madhuri Misal and Meghana Bordikar (BJP) and Aditi Tatkare (NCP), who as the minister of woman and child welfare was involved in the implementation of the flagship Ladki Bahin Yojana ahead of the state assembly election.