Chhagan Bhujbal upset about exclusion from new Maharashtra cabinet, says will decide future course

Chhagan Bhujbal

Senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Chhagan Bhujbal on December 16 expressed his disappointment at not being included in the new Mahayuti government and said he would decide his future course after talking to people from his constituency.

Speaking to reporters, Bhujbal claimed he had been excluded from the cabinet because he took on activist Manoj Jarange, who has been demanding reservation for the Maratha community in jobs and education.

Bhujbal, who served as the food and civil supplies minister in the previous Mahayuti government, said he was upset at not being included in the new cabinet.

Former ministers Bhujbal and Dilip Walse Patil of NCP and Mungantiwar and Vijaykumar Gavit of BJP were some prominent leaders who didn't make it when thirty-nine legislators from Mahayuti allies, the BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP, were sworn in on December 15 in the first cabinet expansion of the Devendra Fadnavis-led government.
"I am an ordinary political worker. It doesn't matter if I am sidelined or rewarded. Ministerial berths come and go, but he cannot be finished off," Bhujbal said.

Asked about his future course, the legislator from the Yeola constituency in Nashik district said, "Let me see. Let me think it over. I will talk to my constituency and discuss with the Samata Parishad.''

After the cabinet expansion on Sunday, Fadnavis said Mahayuti allies have agreed to conduct a "performance audit" of ministers during their tenure.

Angered by Bhujbal's exclusion in the cabinet, his supporters held demonstrations in Nashik district.

The NCP leader's supporters staged a rasta roko agitation at Vinchur on the Nashik-Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar state highway in the morning.

Protestors warned of intensifying their agitation if Bhujbal is denied rightful honour.

Demonstrations were also held in front of the NCP office in the Mumbai Naka area of Nashik city. Angry supporters had burnt tyres in the area on Sunday evening.

With PTI inputs