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Ajit Pawar cries foul over Chhagan Bhujbal meeting Fadnavis

Dec 24, 2024 10:21 AM IST

The BJP, although it has clarified that Bhujbal will not be inducted into its ranks, wants him to shoulder a key responsibility in the state

MUMBAI/PUNE: Upset about not getting a cabinet berth, senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal met chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday to communicate his discontent. The BJP, although it has clarified that Bhujbal will not be inducted into its ranks, wants him to shoulder a key responsibility in the state. Deputy CM and NCP chief Ajit Pawar, on the other hand, has indicated that he is in no mood to placate Bhujbal immediately.

Chhagan Bhujbal met Devendra Fadnavis at the latter’s official bungalow on Monday (Anshuman Poyrekar/HT Photo)
Chhagan Bhujbal met Devendra Fadnavis at the latter’s official bungalow on Monday (Anshuman Poyrekar/HT Photo)

The 77-year-old politician, who has always held a cabinet berth whenever his party has been in power since 1999, recently expressed his angst and took an open stand against his party leadership. There were violent protests in his hometown, Nashik, as well. The showdown, however, did not work, as the NCP leadership chose to not pay heed. This was perhaps what led Bhujbal to meet Fadnavis at the latter’s official bungalow on Monday.

After the meeting, Fadnavis told reporters in Pune that the NCP wanted Bhujbal to shoulder responsibility at the national level. “Ajit Pawar told me that he wants the NCP to be a national party and wants Bhujbal in this role since he has acceptance in other states too,” he said. “But Bhujbal wants something else. However, we will find a way out in the next eight to 10 days, as we want him to be on the ground with us.”

Asked if he was planning to switch over to the BJP, Bhujbal refused to elaborate and said he had already spoken his mind on the issue of him being ignored in the ministry expansion. Fadnavis, however, clarified that there was no question of this. “He has not demanded this. We are working together as the Mahayuti,” he said.

NCP chief Ajit Pawar, however, snubbed Bhujbal for the ‘breach of hierarchy’. “This is our party’s internal issue and we will solve it in our style,” he said. Later in the evening, Ajit declared that the Mahayuti had 237 MLAs, and it didn’t affect anyone if one person was disgruntled. This is believed to be a clear indication to Bhujbal.

According to some NCP leaders, Bhujbal had initially insisted on the post of minister of state for his son Pankaj Bhujbal but the party leadership was against it. “There were lots of complaints of anti-party activities against Pankaj (not Pankaj but chhagan bhujbal)during the assembly polls in Nashik,” said an NCP leader.

The leader said that Bhujbal had been offered the Rajya Sabha seat of party MP Nitin Patil, whose term in the upper house ends in April 2026. “If Bhujbal accepts the offer, Nitin Patil, whose brother Makrand Patil has been inducted in the cabinet, will be asked to resign,” he said. “Patil has already been informed. The party leadership is not in the mood to offer Bhujbal anything more than this. Ajit Pawar’s remarks on Monday were an indicator.”

Agriculture minister Manikrao Kokate of the NCP also criticised Bhujbal. “Fadnavis has given 17 ministerial berths to the OBC community, but Bhujbal thinks only about his son and nephew,” he said. “There is no question of convincing Bhujbal, as no wrong has been done to him.”

A senior BJP leader said that the BJP wanted Bhujbal to be part of the cabinet, but this was nixed by his own party chief Ajit Pawar. “However, he claimed that being left out of the cabinet was not what he was unhappy about; he wanted to be on the NCP’s core committee of Ajit Pawar, Sunil Tatkare and Praful Patel, which is responsible for all key decisions. He pointed out how the BJP’s core committee has 14 members from the state and Centre.”

The BJP leadership believes that Bhujbal’s stand on OBC reservation and his taking on Maratha activist Manoj Jarange-Patil helped the Mahayuti in garnering OBC votes. “After all, he is an OBC face and the community is our strong vote bank,” said the senior BJP leader. “The party was totally in favour of Bhujbal’s induction in the cabinet, and our leaders requested Ajit Pawar to agree to this.”

(With inputs from Siddharth Gadkari in Pune)

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