Mumbai: NCP‘s Ajit Pawar faction has turned down BJP‘s offer to make Praful Patel minister of state with independent charge in the new NDA government.
The NCP faction wanted a Cabinet berth for Praful Patel. MoS with independent charge was not acceptable to the party.
“During our meeting with Amit Shah, JP Nadda and Rajnath Singh, we discussed reasons for defeat in the Lok Sabha polls and then I broached the topic of getting a Cabinet berth for Praful Patel. We got a message later (from BJP) that they are giving MoS with independent charge. Since Patel was a Cabinet minister earlier, it did not feel good to accept the offer,” said Pawar.
He added: “We told them (BJP) about this and they said that they are giving MoS to parties with more MPs than us, so we cannot be accommodated. We said that in another few months we would have two more MPs in the Rajya Sabha and so we should be given a Cabinet berth and we would wait till a Cabinet berth is given,” said Pawar.
He added that NCP was still in NDA and “we will support them, this decision of ours should not be taken otherwise”.
Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who met Ajit Pawar and other NCP leaders in Delhi after NCP’s refusal, told reporters that there was a uniform policy on allocation of ministry. “For one party, exceptions could not be made. We are sure that whenever there is a Cabinet expansion, their (NCP) wish would be considered,” said Fadnavis.
As per sources, a section within NCP wanted the party to accept MoS post if Praful Patel was not willing to accept it. The lack of representation from NCP in the government was used by the Sharad Pawar faction to target Ajit Pawar. “We knew that they (Ajit Pawar) will not get any berth in the government. This deal with BJP has only benefitted Praful Patel. He has been exonerated in the cases against him while cases continue against Ajit Pawar and Sunil Tatkare. In the upcoming assembly polls, MLAs from the Ajit faction would have no option but to contest the assembly polls under BJP symbol,” a leader from Sharad Pawar faction said.
