Ajit Pawar, Chhagan Bhujbal meet Devendra Fadnavis over portfolio allocations; CM Shinde spends time with Shiv Sena MLAs

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Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his Deputies spent much of Monday assuaging ruffled feathers and easing the unrest within their party ranks. While Ajit Pawar met with his BJP counterpart to discuss portfolio allocations, the CM held a closed-door meeting with MLAs and party workers to discuss the new developments and offer solutions. As Maharashtra gears up for a Cabinet expansion, Shiv Sena leaders have already conveyed their unrest over the recent developments.

The CM also paid tribute to his mentor Anand Dighe and Sena founder late Bal Thackeray during a Guru Purnima event that was attended by several Cabinet Ministers before. “Going by the seniority of its leaders, they will mostly get plum portfolios, which is our concern as those leaders will favour their party workers and use the funds to benefit them. This was exactly the reason why we decided to go with Shinde and revolt against our leader Uddhav Thackeray a year ago.

If similar treatment takes places this time also, some of us will struggle to get re-elected," said a leader from Shinde's Shiv Sena. Following the rebellion in June last year, Sena MLAs had incidentally claimed that they were not getting funds for their constituencies. Most of the allocations, they contended were being cornered by NCP legislators since Ajit Pawar was the deputy CM and held the finance portfolio in the MVA dispensation.

Meanwhile, the newly re-appointed Deputy CM met with Devendra Fadnavis to discuss the allocation of cabinet portfolios and legal aspects pertaining to the new alliance. “The allocation of portfolios would be finalised by Tuesday evening," the source said. In the past, Ajit Pawar held portfolios such as water resources department, power and finance.