After NCP, Shiv Sena expresses discontent over lack of cabinet positions in Modi 3.0 cabinet
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde
The Shiv Sena has voiced dissatisfaction with not getting any Cabinet positions in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's new National Democratic Alliance (NDA) cabinet.
This comes one day after Ajit Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)voiced dissatisfaction about its MPs receiving a Minister of State position despite asking for aCabinet position.
The top leaderof the Eknath Shinde-led party, Shrirang Barne, stated, "We were expecting a Cabinet berth," given the percentage of other NDA allies in the new Council of Ministers.
"Chirag Paswan got five MPs, [Jitan Ram] Manjhi got one, JDS got two MPs... yet they received one Cabinet post each. Despite having seven Lok Sabha seats, why did Shiv Sena only receive one Minister of State (MoS) post with independent charge? Shiv Sena is an old ally of BJP. Shiv Sena should have received a Cabinet post at least for that," Barne said.
On Sunday (June 9), NCP leader Ajit Pawar and Rajya Sabha MP Praful Patel described the Minister of State offer as a "demotion". They expressed their discontent with it just before the June 9 swearing-in ceremony.
"Praful Patel, having served as a Cabinet minister in the central government, expressed that they didn't feel it was appropriate to accept the position of Minister of State with independent charge. So we told them [BJP] that we are ready to wait for a few days, but we want a Cabinet post. We are going to attend the swearing-in ceremony today," Ajit Pawar said on Saturday.
In the recently ended Lok Sabha elections, Ajit Pawar's NCP secured one of the four seats out of a total of 48 seats in the western state of Maharashtra, while the Shiv Sena won seven of the 15 seats it fought. The BJP secured nine seats in the state.
(With inputs from agencies)
