Modi 3.0 cabinet: Nationalist Congress Party (Ajit Pawar) leader Praful Patel Sunday said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership last night offered his party a Minister of State (MoS) with independent charge. However, the party decided to wait for a few days as it would have been a demotion for me—as “earlier I was a cabinet minister in the union government.”
NCP demands cabinet ministry
Meanwhile, NCP chief Ajit Pawar said, “Praful Patel has served as a cabinet minister in the central government and we did not feel right in taking Minister of State with independent charge. So we told them (BJP) that we were ready to wait for a few days, but we wanted a cabinet ministry. We are going to attend the swearing-in ceremony today…”
The NCP chief said that in the next 2-3 months, the party will have three members in the Rajya Sabha, and the total strength of the party MPs in the Parliament will increase to four. Hence, the party has demanded that it be given one cabinet ministry seat.
“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” Pawar said.
Earlier in the day, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said, “The 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.”
Fadnavis further said, “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 (had) requested for a cabinet minister post…”
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Published: 09 Jun 2024, 05:27 PM IST