Cabinet formation: Ajit Pawar is in a spot selecting ministers
NCP, led by Ajit Pawar, may secure 11 ministerial posts in the new Mahayuti government, prompting a reshuffle of senior leaders.
Mumbai: The Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is likely to get 11 berths in the ministerial council of the newly elected Mahayuti government. Among them, seven would be cabinet ministers and the remaining four would be junior ministers. This has put Ajit Pawar in a quandary as he has to replace at least two senior leaders who sided with him during the split in the party last year and were made cabinet ministers.
“Our party held nine cabinet berths in the previous government, so we have to ask two seniors to take a break,” said an NCP insider.
The party leadership is keen to replace senior leaders who were part of the ministerial council for the past four years – including two-and-half years of the Mahayuti government and one-and-half years of the MVA government before that, said NCP sources. It is mulling over replacing Dilip Walse Patil, cooperation minister in the previous government, with Dattray Bharne and Chhagan Bhujbal, food and civil supplies minister in the previous government, with Manikrao Kokate. They are also keen to include fresh faces like Indraneel Naik, Sangram Jagtap, Sana Malik and Rajesh Vitekar in the ministerial council, for which some former junior ministers would have to be dropped, the sources added.
Both Walse Patil and Bharne are from the western Maharashtra region. Bharne, a Dhangar leader, was a minister in the previous Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government led by Uddhav Thackeray. In the recently held assembly polls, he defeated NCP (SP)’s Harshvardhan Patil to become the MLA of Indapur.
Similarly, both Bhujbal and Kokate, a five-term MLA from Sinnar, come from the north Maharashtra region. Bhujbal is prepared to take a step back but wants his son Pankaj Bhujbal to be made a minister. Pankaj, a two-term MLA, is currently a member of the legislative council.
Those who are being considered for junior ministerial berths include Indraneel Naik, who sided with Ajit Pawar during the split in the party and was elected MLA from the Pusad assembly constituency in Yavatmal district of Vidarbha for the second time in the recent polls. Naik belongs to the family of former chief ministers Vasantrao Naik and Sudhakarrao Naik. The family has never lost the seat since 1952.
Sangram Jagtap, a Maratha leader, was elected from the Ahmednagar City constituency in north Maharashtra for the third time in a row. His induction in the council of ministers would provide further representation to the region in case Amalner MLA Anil Patil is also part of the council this time.
Sana Malik, who won from the Anushakti Nagar constituency in Mumbai, may also be inducted in the ministerial council. She is the first Muslim woman MLA in Maharashtra and her inclusion will ensure representation for all major communities in the council.
Meanwhile, NCP working president Praful Patel is likely to get a berth in the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the centre. Patel, a six term Rajya Sabha MP, was elected unopposed for a period of six years in April this year. He is also a four-term Lok Sabha MP.