Praful Patel may get a Cabinet post in Delhi, claims Ramdas Athawale day after Ajit Pawar joins NDA

BJP ally and Union Minister Ramdas Athawale on Monday claimed that NCP's Praful Patel, who backed Ajit Pawar's decision to join the NDA, may get a cabinet berth in Delhi. He also said that Eknath Shinde will remain the chief minister of Maharashtra. After Ajit Pawar joined the ruling alliance, some opposition leaders claimed that the BJP may replace Shinde with Pawar. "Eknath Shinde will remain the chief minister and Praful Patel may get a Cabinet post," Athawale said while speaking to the news agency PTI.    

Also read: 'No talk at all...': NCP's Praful Patel denies reports that he may join Modi Cabinet

Athawale's claims are in line with what many suspects may happen in the upcoming Cabinet reshuffle at the Centre. However, Patel, who has served as the Union Civil Aviation Minister in the UPA government, on Sunday said there was no talk at all about this with the BJP, and this was just a "speculation".

Praful Patel has backed Ajit Pawar for his move to join the NDA. Patel was at the meeting held at Pawar's residence on Sunday morning and also accompanied him to Raj Bhawan. While Ajit Pawar's move was expected, Praful Patel backing him surprised many as he was considered close to NCP chief Sharad Pawar and was recently appointed the party's national working president.

Today, RJD Vice President Shivanand Tiwari said this development was definitely a setback for the Opposition. However, he said, what happened was not completely unpredictable. Tiwari further said Ajit Pawar was restless and wanted the NCP's control to be handed over to him. "What surprises me is how Praful Patel also joined the revolt. He was considered to be very close to Sharad Pawar," the RJD leader said.

Athawale also claimed that the Maharashtra-like situation may erupt in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh as many MLAs are unhappy with Nitish Kumar joining hands with the RJD. "Similarly in UP, Jayant Chaudhary can join the NDA as he did not attend the Patna opposition meeting," Athawale told PTI.

Earlier today, NCP working President Praful Patel's photo frame was removed from the Nationalist Student Congress office in Delhi. "We removed Praful Patel's photo frame and all other leaders who left NCP since they are not part of the NCP family anymore...," NCP student wing national president Sonia Doohan said.

NCP's Maharashtra president Jayant Patil said the party has sent a petition to the Assembly speaker. He said the party's strength in the Assembly is 53, of which 9 have defected, but the rest all are with the NCP. "We will give them a fair chance to come back but will take action against those who do not come back."

On Sunday, Ajit Pawar claimed that he joined the NDA as NCP and that he had the support of almost all party MLAs. However, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar today claimed that only a few MLAs were with Ajit Pawar but they will also return to the party. "Many from their (Ajit Pawar) camp called me and said that their ideology is not different from that of NCP and they will take a final call in the next few days," he said.