Protest brewing as 11 ministers dropped from Maharashtra cabinet
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Mumbai: Disquiet is simmering in Maharashtra’s ruling alliance Mahayuti after eleven key ministers have been excluded from the new government led by Devendra Fadnavis.
Supporters of the ousted ministers, especially those of Chaggan Bhujbal in Yeola, came out on the street protesting, according to NDTV.
Ajit Pawar's faction, one the three constituents of ruling alliance, dropped five of its key leaders: Chhagan Bhujbal, Dharmarao Baba Atram, Sanjay Bansode, Dilip Walse Patil and Anil Patil.
The BJP and Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena have dropped three each in a remarkable reshuffle with the saffron party removing Ravindra Chavan, Sudhir Mungantiwar and Vijaykumar Gavit.
Shinde’s Sena kept out Tanaji Sawant, Abdul Sattar and Deepak Kesarkar.
Chhagan Bhujbal, protesting against the decision, declared that he would not attend assembly session, and return to Nashik, adding that accepting the Rajya Sabha seat proffered to him would ‘not be fair’ to the voters of Yeola.
Sudhir Mungantiwar contradicted Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis's claim that there was a ‘long discussion’ before he was removed.
Fadnavis reportedly said: ‘We had a long discussion with Sudhir Mungantiwar on the expansion of the cabinet. If he does not get a ministerial berth, there is a possibility that he will be given some big responsibility by the party.’
Refuting Fadnavis’s claim, Mungantiwar said that they had only spoken on the day of cabinet expansion.
Fadnavis and state BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule claimed that Mungantiwar was in the list of ministers the day before expansion.
The Sena leadership is facing protests after one of its MLAs Narendra Bhondekar quit all party positions in response to denying a cabinet berth.
Vijay Shivtare, the MLA from Purandar protested not so much against denying the position as against what he said ‘the treatment meted out’ to him.
‘The three leaders didn't communicate properly. I will not take ministership even if given after 2.5 years,’ he was quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, Fadnavis claimed that ministers from Shinde cabinet have not been included in the new government after assessing their performance, and promised audit of the new ministers.