Despite a lull in negotiations for forming a new government, the Shiv Sena is pressing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the home ministry portfolio.
“Whenever the chief minister is decided and if it goes to the BJP, we will want the home ministry; we will insist on this because the home ministry was with the then-deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who was from BJP, the last time Eknath Shinde was chief minister (2022). On Saturday, Sena Spokesperson and MLA Sanjay Shirsat stated that there should be a similar division this time around, as is the natural pattern.
Shirsat has now publicly put forward the party’s argument on why it needs the home ministry portfolio.
State BJP Chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule responded to Shirasat’s comment by saying, “Whatever discussions will take place will happen after the three leaders sit together, not through statements given to the media.” The BJP state chief was referring to Shinde, Ajit Pawar of the Nationalist Congress Party, and Devendra Fadnavis sitting down for negotiations.
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While Shinde avoided a direct censure to the Shiv Sena MLA, a senior BJP leader stated that the 2022 formula is no longer applicable. “In 2022, we granted the Shiv Sena the Chief Minister’s post for the entire 2.5-year term, despite having double the number of MLAs. Despite having more MLAs, we took on the home ministry portfolio after becoming deputy CM.
Talks on government formation and portfolio allocation have stalled since Shinde, the interim Chief Minister, has returned to his hometown of Daregaon in Satara, shortly after meeting with Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi. This has led to conjecture that Shinde was disgruntled over the choice to give the Chief Minister’s position to the BJP. The Shiv Sena has, however, alleged that Shinde was ‘unwell’. On Sunday, physicians were brought in to treat Shinde in Daregaon.
According to BJP leaders, the process of picking a legislative party leader, who will then become the CM, will be completed by December 3.
Bawankule said the new government’s swearing-in ceremony will take place at Azad Maidan on December 5th at 5pm, in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
