Ajit Pawar insists on finance, cabinet expansion delayed

Yet another late-night meeting over portfolio distribution and cabinet expansion between Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde and his deputies Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar remained inconclusive. According to sources, Pawar is still adamant about his demand for the finance ministry. They added that he will be flying to Delhi on Wednesday night to meet union home minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah and seek his intervention to solve the issue of portfolio distribution and cabinet expansion in Maharashtra.

Sources also indicated that in Tuesday’s meeting, Ajit Pawar proposed a reshuffle of cabinet portfolios once again but Shinde refused. The CM who is under pressure from his Shiv Sena MLAs made it clear to Pawar that portfolios will be distributed after the cabinet expansion and the Nationalist Congress Party faction will not get ministries from the Sena quota. Ajit Pawar has asked for departments like finance, irrigation, tourism, women and child development, social justice, rural development, etc. Sources also said that Pawar has asked for one cabinet berth at the Centre.

It’s been more than 10 days since nine NCP MLAs including Ajit Pawar have been without portfolios after breaking away from the Sharad Pawar-led party and joining the BJP-Shiv Sena government. The monsoon session of the Maharashtra assembly will begin in five days and that’s why Ajit Pawar is putting pressure on Shinde to announce the portfolios. But for the CM, the expansion of the cabinet is the priority as Shiv Sena and BJP MLAs have been waiting for the past year to get cabinet berths.

Maharashtra can have a maximum of 43 cabinet ministers. As of now, 29 of these positions have been filled and the list of ministerial aspirants has grown lengthier. “It would be a very difficult task for CM Shinde to choose the cabinet ministers. There is a chance that he may consider factors like caste while picking MLAs for cabinet berths, the way Ajit Pawar has tried to give representation to OBC, SC-ST, and minorities while selecting MLAs who had taken oath as cabinet ministers with him,” said a senior leader from the Bharatiya Janata Party.

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