Shiv Sena (UTB) leader Sanjay Raut on Friday claimed that Ajit Pawar could be made the Chief Minister of Maharashtra in future by replacing Eknath Shinde. After Pawar was given the Finance and Planning portfolios, Raut claimed, “Ajit Pawar can become the chief minister in future. It is certain that the chief minister (Eknath Shinde) will be removed.” Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Council, Ambadas Danve said that the time is to take revenge on the 40 MLAs who rebelled against Uddhav Thackeray. Danve said that when Ajit Pawar was part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, Shiv Sena MLAs accused him of depriving them (MLAs) of funds and left the party and today the same person have become minister and is in charge of the state’s finances.
In June last year, Eknath Shinde’s rebellion led to a split in the Shiv Sena and the fall of the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government. The MVA government consisted of the Shiv Sena, the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). Shinde became the chief minister with the support of the BJP after a rebellion in the Shiv Sena. In a statement, Chief Minister Shinde’s office said that apart from Ajit Pawar, eight other NCP MLAs have also been assigned various portfolios. Dhananjay Munde has been given the agriculture portfolio, while Dilip Walse-Patil will be the new cooperative minister, the statement said.
Other NCP leaders Hasan Mushrif got medical education, Chhagan Bhujbal got food and civil supplies, Dharmarao Atram got food and drug administration, Sanjay Bansode got sports, Aditi Tatkare got women and child development and Anil Patil got relief, rehabilitation and disaster management department.