Mumbai: A day after a leader from the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena took oath in the Narendra Modi-led government, senior party MP Shrirang Barne alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had short-changed the Shiv Sena and was using double standards for its allies.
Prataprao Jadhav, who won the Lok Sabha poll from Buldhana, was sworn-in Sunday as Minister of State (MoS) with independent charge in the Modi cabinet.
Reacting to Barne’s comments, MP Shrikant Shinde, Shiv Sena leader in the Lok Sabha, said his party was unconditionally supporting the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government and that “there is no bargaining or negotiation for power”.
Speaking to reporters, Barne, who won the Lok Sabha poll from Maval parliamentary constituency for the third time, said: “The BJP in Maharashtra fought on 28 seats. The Shiv Sena fought on 15 seats. The BJP got nine MPs elected and the Shiv Sena got seven MPs. It was our expectation that the Shiv Sena will get one cabinet berth and one MoS berth.”
He added that the Lok Janshakti Party got a cabinet berth despite having just five MPs against Shiv Sena’s seven, which makes it the BJP’s third-largest ally in the NDA.
“Somewhere, double standards are being applied,” he alleged.
Responding to Barne’s comments, Shrikant Shinde, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s son and MP from Kalyan, said: “We have already made it clear that we are supporting the government unconditionally. This nation has asked and needs the leadership of PM Narendra Modiji… we have extended unconditional support to an ideological coalition.”
Also Read: Chouhan, Khattar & Kumaraswamy among 30 cabinet ministers in Modi’s 71-strong council of ministers
‘Ajit Pawar should have got judicious treatment’
There is no representative from the Ajit Pawar-led NCP in Modi’s cabinet.
Leaders from both the NCP and BJP said the BJP had offered the post of MoS (independent charge) to the former, but the NCP refused, saying it wanted a Union minister’s post and was willing to wait for the same.
The NCP had decided to nominate Rajya Sabha MP Praful Patel to the cabinet. For Patel, taking up a junior minister’s post after having been a Union minister in the previous Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government would have been a demotion.
Barne said the NCP should have been treated more judiciously. “In this whole thing, Ajit dada Pawar also fell out with his family (Sharad Pawar who led the undivided NCP). Nobody can deny that,” he pointed out.
He added that the BJP should also have offered a cabinet berth to Satara MP Udayanraje Bhosale, a descendant of Maratha warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji “to keep the respect for the dynasty”.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
Also Read: Three-time MoS, poet who provides comic relief, and NDA’s Dalit face — who is Ramdas Athawale
This is just the beginning of chaotic power struggle in NDA.