Amidst talks of further split in NCP, cabinet expansion likely next week

The cabinet expansion of the coalition government in Maharashtra is likely to take place next week amid speculations of a further split in the NCP. Union home minister Amit Shah discussed the issue with key leaders of the coalition government, including chief minister Eknath Shinde and deputy chief ministers Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar. There were speculations about NCP president Jayant Patil joining the rebel group led by Ajit Pawar, but Patil strongly refuted those claims and said he is with NCP chief Sharad Pawar.

Mumbai: Amid speculations of a further split in the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the cabinet expansion of the coalition government is likely to take place in the next week.

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The issue was discussed in a meeting held between Union home minister Amit Shah, chief minister Eknath Shinde and deputy chief ministers Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar on Sunday.

The meeting that lasted for an hour was held in Pune where Shah had come to launch the digital portal of the Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies (CRCS) office.

It assumes political significance in the backdrop of speculations about Jayant Patil, Maharashtra NCP president, joining the rebel group led by Ajit Pawar. Patil, however, strongly refuted the speculations and said that he is with NCP chief Sharad Pawar.

There were also speculations that Patil met Shah in Pune to which he said that he had been in Mumbai and had met Pawar twice — Saturday evening and Sunday morning — at the latter’s residence — Silver Oak.

Shah arrived in Pune on Saturday evening and on Sunday morning, he met Shinde, Fadnavis and Ajit. They discussed the next cabinet expansion and efforts to improve the image of the coalition government, said the insiders.

In the late evening, along with the key BJP leaders, they took stock of the political scenario in the state and discussed the preparations for forthcoming local body and general elections and the alliance’s target of winning 45 seats from Maharashtra.

With Shah in Pune, speculations were rife that Patil, who is also heading the legislative unit of the NCP, will join Ajit.

Patil and Ajit had been rivals in the NCP. There were also speculations that the former had a secret meeting with Shah.

Refuting all the speculations, Patil said that there were attempts being made to create misunderstanding against him.

“Who told you this? You should ask those who are saying all this. Yesterday, I attended the I.N.D.I.A. (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance)

coalition meeting, last evening and this morning I was there at Pawar saheb’s residence,” Patil said when asked if he had met Shah.

Patil added that he also met senior NCP MLAs such as Anil Deshmukh, Rajesh Tope, Sunil Bhusara and Prajakt Tanpure at his residence till late on Saturday.

“I do not have Aladdin’s magic lamp to travel everywhere in such a short span of time… I am not being pressurised, (I) have not received any offer or spoken to anyone. I want to request you to stop creating misunderstandings about me. It is not right,” Patil told reporters outside his residence on Peddar Road.

Speculations have been rife about Patil ever since he was seen joking with and hugging Sunil Tatkare, state president of the Ajit-led NCP faction, in the legislature premises.

Except for the initial few days after the split on July 2, there has been a conspicuous silence in the NCP as both the factions have stopped targeting each other since Ajit met Sharad Pawar three times.

This despite most of the NCP MLAs and senior leaders having sided with Ajit, who not only joined the Shiv Sena-BJP government but has made a claim on NCP’s name and election symbol before the election commission.

Moreover, neither senior Pawar nor any other NCP leader has criticised Ajit in more than a month.

Jitendra Awhad, former minister and the NCP MLA, claimed that attempts are on to create confusion among all the NCP leaders. “We don’t think it is fair that we have to come and clarify every time such stories are planted,” he said.

He added that he will remain loyal to Sharad Pawar and his ideology till his last breath.

On Sunday evening, Fadnavis, too, denied any meeting between Shah and Patil. “Jayant Patil did not meet Amit Shah. I request people to not publish stories without confirmation,” he said.