• By Vivek Raj
  • Sun, 09 Jun 2024 06:25 PM (IST)
  • Source:JND
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The Ajit Pawar-led faction of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), part of the Mahayuti alliance in Maharashtra, expressed disappointment after their request for a Cabinet berth in the new Modi government was not met. Instead, the NCP was offered the position of Minister of State (MoS) with independent charge. However, just ahead of the Modi 3.0 Cabinet's swearing-in ceremony, NCP leader Praful Patel has declined an offer for the position of Minister of State (MoS) with independent charge, citing it as a demotion given his previous role as a Union Cabinet Minister. The lone NCP MP, Sunil Tatkare, will also not be getting a Cabinet berth.

Praful Patel expressed his discontent, stating, "Last night we were informed that our party will get a Minister of State with independent charge. I was earlier a Cabinet Minister in the Union Government, so this will be a demotion for me. We have informed the BJP leadership and they have already told us to just wait for a few days, they will take remedial measures.”

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis stated, "Nationalist Congress Party was offered one seat from the government- MoS Independent Charge. But their request was from their side Praful Patel's name was finalised and he was already a minister. Therefore, he would not be able to hold the post of MoS Independent Charge.”

“When a government is formed with an alliance some criteria need to be decided, because several sides are together. But because of one party, the criteria cannot be twisted. But, I am sure that in the future when there will be an expansion at that time they will be remembered at that time...They requested for a cabinet minister post,” Fadnavis added.

Ajit Pawar, attending Narendra Modi's oath-taking ceremony, mentioned that the party was willing to wait for a few days for a cabinet ministry post. "We did not feel right in taking Minister of State with independent charge... we want a cabinet ministry," he said.

He further said, "We have one Lok Sabha and one Rajya Sabha MP today, but in the next 2-3 months we will have a total of 3 members in the Rajya Sabha and our number of MPs in Parliament will be 4. So we said we should be given one (cabinet ministry) seat."

Meanwhile, prominent leaders from Maharashtra set to take oath include BJP’s Nitin Gadkari, Piyush Goyal, and Raksha Khadse, Shiv Sena’s Prataprao Jadhav, and RPI(A) chief Ramdas Athawale. Narendra Modi will be sworn in as Prime Minister for the third consecutive term today, alongside more than 60 cabinet ministers.