After union cabinet formation, BJP’s Maharashtra allies express unhappiness

Formation of Modi's 71-member council angers BJP allies in Maharashtra as they receive fewer ministerial posts than expected

MUMBAI: PM Narendra Modi’s formation of a 71-member ministerial council for his third term has rankled the BJP’s two allies in Maharashtra. While four of the party’s MPs were inducted as ministers despite the fact that the BJP-led NDA won a mere 17 Lok Sabha seats in the state, only one minister-of-state post was offered to both the Shiv Sena and NCP (AP).

NCP minister Chhagan Bhujbal also raised the issue of seat-sharing during the party's celebration of its 25th foundation day. (HT Photo/Satish Bate)

Although the Shiv Sena accepted the minister of state (independent charge) position for its Buldhana MP Prataprao Jadhav, party MP Shrirang Barne on Monday expressed his displeasure. “Karnataka’s H D Kumaraswamy, who has two MPs, Jitan Ram Manjhi, who is the sole MP from his party, and Chirag Paswan, who has five MPs, all got cabinet berths,” he said. “The BJP won nine of 28 contested seats while we won seven of 15. We are one of the BJP’s oldest allies and expect one cabinet and one minister of state berth.” Amid the discontent, chief minister Eknath Shinde called a meeting of his MPs and MLAs on Monday evening.

Barne insisted that the Shiv Sena was the third largest party in the NDA alliance after Chandrababu Naidu and Nitish Kumar, who have 16 and 12 MPs respectively. “I personally feel we are getting stepmotherly treatment and must get justice, as we are going to face assembly polls in the next three months,” he asserted. Later in the evening, however, the party changed its tune, with party parliamentary unit chief Shrikant Shinde insisting that the party was supporting the NDA government unconditionally without any bargaining.

The BJP’s other ally—the Ajit Pawar-led NCP—which refused to accept a junior minister’s post in Modi’s government, has sought expansion of the state cabinet so that it can induct more legislators as ministers. “I have already discussed it with CM Shinde and deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, and both are positive about it,” said Ajit. The NCP is looking to get one more cabinet berth and at least three to four minister of state berths in the state ministerial council.

Senior leader Praful Patel was to be the party’s representative in the union council of ministers but since he had already served as a cabinet minister during the UPA government, the party refused the lower post offered by the BJP.

There were also other rumblings of discontent. The NCP (AP)’s Pimpri MLA Anna Bansode remarked that the BJP’s allies were facing injustice in Maharashtra. NCP minister Anil Patil said that the party would demand at least 80 seats to contest the state assembly elections. NCP minister Chhagan Bhujbal also raised the issue of seat-sharing during the NCP’s celebration of its 25th foundation day and said that the seat-sharing issue should be finalised early.

“I agree that the BJP is the big brother, as it has more MLAs,” said Bhujbal. “But we also have 40-45 MLAs and CM Shinde too has the same number. Hence both parties should get an equal number of seats.” In response, Maharashtra NCP (AP) president Sunil Tatkare urged them to stop talking about it. “The NCP will get an appropriate number of seats,” he said. “We will begin by asking for 53 seats, the number that we won in the last elections. The rest can be added to this.”

Deputy CM Fadnavis said that in a coalition government, certain criteria were fixed for ministerial posts, and these could not be changed for one party. “Praful Patel’s name was finalised as a minister of state berth with independent charge but NCP leaders said he could not be made a state minister considering his seniority,” he said. But he will be considered for a cabinet berth in the future.”

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut said that Modi had shown the Shinde Sena its place by denying it a cabinet minister’s post despite its having seven MPs. “With this act, the BJP has indicated that the nakli Sena is at its mercy,” he said.