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Shiv Sena aims for cabinet, MoS berths; NCP bats for Praful Patel as face of party
Of the 15 constituencies Shiv Sena had contested it won 7, while Sena (UBT) managed to win only nine of the 22 seats it had contested
MUMBAI: A couple of days after Lok Sabha election results were declared, the Shiv Sena led by chief minister Eknath Shinde and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) led by Ajit Pawar have set in motion their future plans. According to Sena insiders, the party has its eyes fixed on 100 assembly seats in the upcoming elections and two ministerial berths, including a cabinet post in the union government, while NCP (AP) leaders said the party is pitching for a cabinet berth for Praful Patel and wishes to make him the party’s face in the union government.
Of the 15 constituencies Shiv Sena had contested it won 7, while Sena (UBT) managed to win only nine of the 22 seats it had contested. In 2019, the unified Shiv Sena had contested on 124 seats and won on 63.
A key Shiv Sena leader told HT that the issue of numbers was being discussed extensively in post-election analysis. “We will demand 100 seats for the party since our performance was good in the Lok Sabha elections. We have supported all our candidates and provided them with resources. We will stand by our people in the assembly polls too,” said the leader, and added, “Thane and Mumbai are our bastions; we have won Thane and Kalyan with good margins. On the other hand, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had two leaders from Vidarbha – Devendra Fadnavis and Nitin Gadkari – its performance there was dismal.”
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The leader also pointed out that when portfolios were being allotted in the tri-partite government in 2023, Sena was given a “raw deal” with NCP (AP) taking away key portfolios. At the time, Sena chief whip Bharat Gogavale had expressed displeasure at being denied a ministerial berth. “We will take it up with BJP and ensure the vacant berths be filled up,” said the Sena leader.
Despite the discussions, Sena spokesperson Sanjay Shirsat said, “We had a meeting of seven MPs on Thursday with the CM Eknath Shinde. On Friday, our MPs will meet and elect a group leader and a chief whip,” said Shirsat. “The MPs also visited the Balasaheb Thackeray memorial at Shivaji Park on Thursday.”
Other dialogues veered on Muslims voting for Shiv Sena (UBT) en masse and how Shiv Sena must use social media effectively to bolster the Hindutva thought.
On the other hand, according to NCP (AP) insiders, Praful Patel will most likely get the civil aviation ministry, which he has already run for seven years as part of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government between 2004 and 2011. Between 2011 and 2014, Patel also held the ministry of heavy industries and public enterprises.
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“We don’t think the party will get more than one berth – two berths would have helped strengthen the party ahead of the state assembly polls,” said an NCP leader wishing to remain anonymous.
Patel is a six-term Rajya Sabha MP. He was elected unopposed for a period of six years in April this year. He is also a four-term Lok Sabha MP.
In the recently-concluded national elections, the party’s state president Sunil Tatkare won from the Raigad constituency. In February, Patel had quit as member of the Rajya Sabha when he had four years to complete the ongoing tenure. He filed the nomination for another Rajya Sabha seat and was elected unopposed. He was first elected to the Upper House in 2000, and re-elected to Rajya Sabha for his second term in 2006, and in 2009 for a fourth term and in 2016 for fifth term.
