NCP leader Ajit Pawar said on Monday that his party will remain with the NDA despite not getting a ministerial berth in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet.
The NCP refused to accept the BJP’s offer of minister of state (independent) in the government and said it expected a cabinet post. Party leader Praful Patel confirmed the NCP’s decision. “We received information that we are going to get an MoS with independent charge. But since I have already been a cabinet minister, I cannot take this position since it would be a demotion,” he said.
Addressing NCP workers at the party 25th Foundation Day ceremony in Mumbai, Pawar said on Monday: “There was a lot of wrong news in the media that NCP leaders are disappointed in the NDA. I want to make it clear that we had asked them for one cabinet and one minister of state berth in the Modi cabinet. but we have been told that there are many alliance parties in NDA and all of them will have to adjust.
“We have been offered one MOS post, which we refused because Praful Patel was a minister in past government. Refusing a berth doesn’t mean we are disappointed in NDA. I assured them we will not leave the NDA even if you can’t give cabinet berths,” Pawar said.
Pawar appealed to party workers to start preparing for the assembly election. He assured them that the party will have three members in the Rajya Sabha by mid-July.
Pawar attributed the NCP’s disappointing performance in the general election to Dalit and Muslim disenchantment with the party. “There are other parties in the NDA, like Nitish Kumar’s JD (U), Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP and Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party that have the support of Muslim and Dalit voters. We should also [try to] consolidate Dalit and Muslim votes,” he said.
Another member of the NDA, the Shiv Sena (Shinde), however, expressed disappointment that the party had not got a cabinet seat.
Shrirang Barne, who retained Maval for the third time by defeating Sanjog Waghere Patil of the Shiv Sena (UBT), pointed out that despite Shiv Sena winning seven seats, it was allotted only an MOS position.
Prataprao Jadhav took oath as a minister of state with independent charge on Sunday.
Barne said even leaders like HD Kumaraswamy and Jitan Ram Manjhi whose parties won two and one seats, respectively, were made cabinet ministers.
He said that Udayanraje Bhosale, the BJP MP from Satara, deserved a cabinet position.
“We were expecting that Shiv Sena would get a cabinet ministry, but even parties that won only one seat received cabinet berths. For example, HD Kumaraswamy of JD(S), whose two MPs got elected, secured two berths, and Jitan Ram Manjhi, who won one seat from Bihar, was also given a cabinet berth," Barne told reporters.
Barne added that Shiv Sena had won seven seats in Maharashtra of the 15 contested, whereas BJP bagged nine of 28.
“We were expecting at least one cabinet and one MOS berth for Shiv Sena, which is the oldest ally of BJP,” he said.
Alleging partiality in the distribution of Cabinet berths, Barne claimed that after JD(U) and TDP, Shiv Sena was the third largest ally of the BJP.
“Chirag Paswan, whose party won five seats, was also given a cabinet berth. But Shiv Sena got only one MOS berth. I feel that there is partiality against Shiv Sena. Considering that we will face assembly elections together in the next three months, it is expected that Sena should get fair treatment,” he added.
Shiv Sena Party Leader in Lok Sabha Shrikant Shinde, however, clarified that the party was supporting the government unconditionally and no bargaining or negotiation for power was involved.
