Maharashtra: Cabinet expansion hit a roadblock

The much-awaited Cabinet reshuffle-and-expansion seems to have hit a roadblock as the three coalition partners - BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP - are engaged in hard bargaining with no immediate solution in sight because of the complicated equilibrium involving giant MahaYuti-NDA formation involving 10 parties. 

On the other hand, the truncated  Maha Vikas Aghadi is yet to take a final call on the issue of which party would get the post of leader of the opposition and who would be appointed. 

Amid hectic developments, chief minister Eknath Shinde on Friday exuded confidence that the expansion of the ministry would happen soon. “There is nothing to worry about, very soon it will happen,” he said. 

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Shinde, the chief leader of Shiv Sena had yet another round of consultations with deputy chief ministers - Devendra Fadnavis of BJP and Ajit Pawar of NCP.

However, there is still more than a week to go before the crucial monsoon session of the Maharashtra Legislature commences in Mumbai. 

The three-week session would be held from 17 July-4 August, it was decided in the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) meeting held in the Vidhan Bhavan complex at Nariman Point here. 

Former chief minister and Shiv Sena (UBT) head Uddhav Thackeray’s close aide Sanjay Raut claimed that 17-18 MLAs of the Shiv Sena are in touch with them. “They are upset, they are in touch with us…that much I can say,” said Raut, a Rajya Sabha member. 

However, Shinde's aide and Shiv Sena spokesperson Naresh Mhaske said that Raut himself was upset. “Raut is trying to reach out to Shinde saheb…he is very dejected and trying to contact the chief minister,” said Mhaske. 

Shinde reiterated that misunderstandings are being planted by the opposition. “We expedited public welfare decisions, and they are there for everyone to witness. Some people float their own versions of the Supreme Court ruling, let them be happy…prime minister Narendra Modi is leading the nation to be a superpower; we believe we should have a role to play as a state. But the opposition keeps spinning stories and rumours to break the unity,” he said.

“Thackeray should introspect before levelling allegations,” he added. On being asked whether or not the alliance is leaving any scope for the opposition, Fadnavis said: "We sure believe there should be an able opposition. But there should be constructive opposition and not destructive opposition.”