Amid a spat between the Shiv Sena and the BJP over sharing of the Chief Minister’s post for 2.5 years each, the latter is willing to give the Deputy Chief Minister’s post to the Sena in the cabinet expansion scheduled for later this month.
In the Sena, senior ministers Subhash Desai and Eknath Shinde are said to be lobbying hard for the Deputy CM’s post while the Sena has proposed the names of NCP defector Jaydutt Kshirsagar and legislator Tanaji Sawant for ministerial berths, instead of taking up the Deputy CM’s post.
According to a senior BJP cabinet minister, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has agreed to give the Deputy Chief Minister’s post to the Sena.
The Minister said, “A cabinet expansion is on the cards. The CM is ready to give the Sena Deputy CM’s post, but they are not ready to take it. The question of sharing the CM’s post will arise after the Assembly elections. But for now, they can get the Deputy CM’s post. However, we have not heard anything from the Sena on this.”
The functionary said, That there was no word about the cabinet expansion from the BJP yet. “We have not heard anything at all about the expansion. Any decision will be taken by Uddhavji and the CM.”
According to the cabinet minister, Fadnavis will expand his team before the last session of the state legislature that begins on 17th June. A handful of non-performing ministers will be dropped and defectors from Congress and NCP will be given a chance, the minister said.
The spat over the sharing of the Chief Minister’s post between the Shiv Sena and the BJP became ugly on Tuesday with the Sena openly claiming that as per a deal between Sena president Uddhav Thackeray and BJP chief Amit Shah, the two parties had decided to share the CM’s post for 2.5 years each. The BJP on the other hand claimed that CM would be from the BJP, even if the Sena was part of the saffron alliance.
In a tweet, Yuva Sena functionary Varun Sardesai, Yuva Sena chief Aaditya Thackeray’s cousin, claimed that the two parties would share the CM’s post. “Shivsena Prez Uddhavsaheb and BJP Prez Amit ji have decided that Maha CM post will be 2.5 years each. People who weren’t present for negotiation, shouldn’t spoil the alliance for their personal gains,” Sardesai tweeted.
While no senior Sena leaders reiterated Sardesai’s claim, given his proximity to the Thackerays, Sena leaders said that his tweet was being taken as the party’s official word. Neither Uddhav nor Aaditya have spoken on the issue so far. From the BJP too, CM Fadnavis has remained mum.
“The sharing of the CM’s post has already been decided between Sena chief Uddhavji and Amit Shah ji. Leaders must not make statements that will confuse voters and damage the prospects of the allaince. About other speculation on cabinet expansion I don’t want to comment,” Shiv Sena spokesperon Neelam Gorhe said.
However, indicating that the BJP was clear that the sharing of the CM’s post was not part of the Sena-BJP agreement, senior BJP leader and state finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar told reporters in Nashik that the next chief minister would be from the BJP.
Mungantiwar said, “The next chief minister will be from the BJP. There is no discontent in the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance over this. We will even cross 220 seats, in the 288-member legislative assembly this time.”
He said, “This will be the last cabinet rejig and new faces will be given a chance. The CM has announced that cabinet expansion will take place many times in the past but it has been held up due to various reasons. But this time an expansion is surely on the cards.”
Yuva Sena chief Aaditya Thackeray met Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at the latter’s residence. “This was a meeting related to education and the poor result of students in the SSC exam. There was nothing about the cabinet expansion,” said Shiv Sena secretary Milind Narvekar.
Aaditya was accompanied by Yuva Sena functionaries Suraj Chavan and Sainath Durghe.
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