Ajit Pawar faction may get 13 berths in ministerial council

The BJP is expected to retain 15 to 16 portfolios, while the Shiv Sena faction will receive three to four more in addition to the ten it already has.

Mumbai: The Ajit Pawar-led faction is likely to get up to 13 berths in the ministerial council of the three-party government. However, the allocation of the portfolios to the newly inducted ministers was delayed due to the differences over the distribution of various departments between the three parties—BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP.

Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde congratulates the newly sworn-in state deputy CM Ajit Pawar at Raj Bhavan in Mumbai on Sunday. (Eknath Shinde Twitter)

A day after joining forces with the Eknath Shinde-led government, Ajit Pawar along with Praful Patel, Chhagan Bhujbal and Sunil Tatkare discussed ministerial berths and portfolio allocations with deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis at his ‘Sagar’ residence in Malabar Hill.

They sought 14 berths in the government, equal to what they had in the erstwhile Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government and what the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena has in the coalition government.

Their demand included departments such as finance, energy, housing, cooperation, women and child development, social justice among others, which was discussed in a meeting of MLAs and senior leaders called by Ajit Pawar on Monday morning at his official residence ‘Devgiri’.

The group, however, is expected to get 12 to 13 berths and will have to settle for a lesser number of key departments. A senior leader from Ajit Pawar camp said, “The BJP has offered us three minister of state positions apart from nine cabinet berths. We have asked for 14 berths comprising 11 cabinet and three junior ministers.”

Most of the portfolios the Ajit Pawar faction has demanded are with BJP, and the Shinde faction has reportedly told the BJP to shed its departments to the newly inducted partner in the power.

The BJP, the largest partner in alliance with 105 members, is expected to keep 15 to 16 portfolios, while Pawar faction will get a maximum 13 ministerial berths. Shinde faction, which has got the post of chief minister despite having less seats than the BJP, is likely to get three to four more berths in addition to the ten ministers it has.

“Even though the number of MLAs with Ajit Pawar faction is not clear, they will get equal share with the Shinde faction. The BJP that settled for the post of the deputy CM despite having more than double the number of MLAs than Shinde will retain at least two ministerial berths than its partners,” a BJP leader said. Ajit Pawar and group is expected to get water resources, higher and technical education among others, according to the BJP leader.

Meanwhile, the Shinde faction has been pushing for another round of cabinet expansion before the allocation of the portfolio to Ajit Pawar faction. “We expect the next round of the expansion to happen in 4-5 days. We have conveyed to the BJP leadership that the allocation of the portfolios should be decided after that,” another BJP leader said.