After the star-studded swearing-in ceremony of Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, the Mahayuti allies are now butting heads over cabinet expansion. The cabinet expansion will take place sometime next week.
The Mahayuti comprises Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena, and the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
The discussions around cabinet expansion have become all the more tricky since Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar are now eyeing the same amount of ministries they had in Mahayuti 1.0 government, Times Now reported citing sources.
The BJP, buoyed by its stellar performance in assembly polls, is not amenable to this and wants a larger share of the pie. The BJP is eyeing 24 of the total 43 portfolios, with 10 berths to Shiv Sena and 9 to Ajit Pawar's NCP.
The saffron party has set its sights on the Home and Urban Development ministries, which the Shinde-led Shiv Sena pushed for. The saffron party has offered the Revenue Ministry to the Shinde Sena instead.
Moreover, the BJP has asked Shinde Sena to keep controversial leaders accused of corruption such as Tanaji Sawant, Sanjay Rathod and Abdul Sattar at bay. "Shinde camp is unhappy about BJP's dominance," one of the sources told the news outlet.
Shinde Sena leaders believe that there are many leaders in Ajit Pawar's camp as well, who are accused of corruption including the Deputy CM himself.
Pawar, who took oath as the Deputy CM for the 6th time on Thursday, is likely to get the Finance Ministry with minister of state (finance) likely from the BJP. Pawar-led NCP is also eyeing other portfolios such as agriculture and co-operation, the report further mentioned.
The ministers will take the oath once the portfolio allocation is finalised. As per BJP leader Sudhir Mungantiwar, the council of ministers is likely to be sworn in before the winter session of the assembly in Nagpur.
With a strike rate of around 90 per cent, the BJP won 132 seats and emerged as the single largest party in the state. Shinde Sena won on 57 seats, followed by Ajit Pawar's NCP at 41 seats.