Maharashtra: Mahayuti heavyweights left sulking after not finding place in Devendra Fadnavis-led cabinet

Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis, flanked by his deputies Eknath Shinde (left) and Ajit Pawar (right), addresses a press conference on the eve of the winter session of the state Assembly, in Nagpur. Pic/PTI

A day after the state cabinet was expanded, some senior leaders from the ruling Mahayuti are upset because they have not been considered for the new council of ministers. Some skipped the day's proceedings of the first day of the winter session in Nagpur, some attended but did not hide their displeasure.

Prominent leaders who have been dropped by their respective parties, Sudhir Mungantiwar (BJP) and Chhagan Bhujbal (NCP), attracted media attention. Bhujbal skipped the party's programme in Nagpur on Sunday following the denial. He visited the legislature on Monday surrounded by the supporters. He said he was offered a seat in the Rajya Sabha a few days ago but he refused it because wanted the party to give it to him early this year.

"Instead I was asked to contest the Assembly polls from Yevala. I can't go to Rajya Sabha because I will have to resign from the Yevala seat and it would mean betraying the voters. I will think about the offer two years later," he told media persons before he left for Nashik where his supporters have been protesting against the party's decision. He said he was not upset about losing the cabinet berth but he didn't like the way he was treated.

A former DyCM, Bhujbal was food and civil supplies minister in the previous government.

Mungantiwar told news channels that he skipped the proceedings because he did not want to encourage the media to ask him questions. "I'm not upset. I work as per the party's instructions. I preferred to be silent rather than go to the session where I would have been asked questions for no reason whatsoever," said Mungantiwar, who was the forest minister in the Eknath Shinde government and worked as the finance and forest minister in the Devendra Fadnavis government between 2014 and 2019.

However, he said he was never told either by Fadnavis or Chandrashekhar Bawankule that he would not be inducted into the cabinet.

In the Shiv Sena camp, former health minister Tanaji Sawant made his displeasure public by abruptly leaving Nagpur. Narendra Bhondekar quit as the coordinator of the party's eastern Vidarbha. He said on Monday that he was promised a ministerial berth when he joined Eknath Shinde's party ahead of the elections.

Sena's Vijay Shivtare was also very upset. He asked whether he was expected to be a slave. He was a junior minister in the first Devendra Fadnavis government.

BJP's Sanjay Kute, who is considered very close to Fadnavis yet missed the bus, issued an appeal to his supporters, explaining his position as a disciplined party worker and an RSS volunteer. "The party has asked me to sacrifice. I'm not upset. However, I feel that I have lacked in fulfilling the party's expectations," he said in his appeal posted on social media. Kute has worked as a cabinet minister for the last six months of the Fadnavis government.

The reactions followed the first cabinet expansion in which many heavyweights from Mahayuti parties were dropped. As of now, 42 ministers, including the CM and two DyCMs, have been sworn in. There is only one vacancy (BJP's share) in Fadnavis's team. The portfolios have not been allocated yet.

In addition to Mungantiwar, the BJP didn't give Vijay Kumar Gavit, Ravindra Chavan and Suresh Khade another chance. Shinde didn't induct Sawant, Deepak Kesarkar and Abdul Sattar. Pawar didn't repeat Bhujbal, Dilip Walse Patil, Dharamrao Baba Atram, Anil Bhaidas Patil and Sanjay Bansode.

42
No. of ministers sworn in so far