‘Am I a toy,’ asks Bhujbal after Cabinet snub, slams NCP leadership

Chhagan Bhujbal said that Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had supported his induction into the Cabinet, but the final decision rested with NCP president Ajit Pawar

Senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and former Minister Chhagan Bhujbal on Tuesday (December 17, 2024) launched a veiled attack on party president and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, saying his exclusion from the newly expanded Council of Ministers was unjustified.

Mr. Bhujbal said that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had supported his induction into the Cabinet, but the final decision rested with Mr. Pawar. “Am I a toy in their hands,” he asked.

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Speaking in Nashik, he expressed his discontent with the way he was treated, though he maintained that he was not disappointed about missing out on a ministerial berth. “The issue is not about becoming a Minister but about the humiliation,” he said, adding that he would consult with NCP workers and people from his Yeola constituency before commenting further.

Mr. Bhujbal criticised the inconsistent roles the party offered him, revealing that he was asked to contest the Lok Sabha election earlier this year but was later sidelined. “I prepared for the Lok Sabha election on the insistence of PM Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, but my name was dropped at the last moment. Now, after winning the Assembly election, I am being asked to move to the Rajya Sabha,” he said. 

The veteran OBC leader said he was excluded from the Cabinet for standing up to Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange and defending the rights of the OBC community. He questioned the timing and sincerity of the recent offers made by the party leadership.

Mr. Bhujbal’s exclusion comes amid the expansion of the Fadnavis Cabinet in Nagpur on Sunday, which saw 39 new members inducted, including 19 from the BJP, 11 from the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, and nine from Mr. Pawar’s faction of the NCP. Ten ministers, including Mr. Bhujbal, were dropped.

In another development, the second day of the Winter Session of the Maharashtra Assembly witnessed protests by Opposition leaders over the recent murder of a sarpanch in Beed district. Legislators from the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) staged a demonstration on the steps of the Vidhan Bhavan, demanding the arrest of the accused.

Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council, Ambadas Danve, Congress leaders Nana Patole and Nitin Raut, and Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders Bhaskar Jadhav and Sachin Ahir were among those who led the protests. The legislators alleged that the ruling Mahayuti alliance had failed to take swift action in the case.

The sarpanch, Santosh Deshmukh, was abducted near a toll plaza in Beed’s Massajog village last week, and his body was later discovered in the Daithana area of Kej tehsil. The CID is investigating the case, and three persons have been arrested so far.

Mr. Danve raised concerns over another incident in Parbhani, where a 35-year-old man arrested in connection with violence over vandalising a replica of the Constitution died in custody. He alleged that the post-mortem report indicated that the man was assaulted, holding the District Collector and the Superintendent of Police responsible.

Published - December 17, 2024 07:56 pm IST