Rift in NCP? Chhagan Bhujbal takes ‘toy’ jibe at Ajit Pawar over Maharashtra Cabinet exclusion: ‘I reject RS offer’

Senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal on Tuesday took a veiled swipe at party president Ajit Pawar for excluding him from the new cabinet and claimed that Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis supported his inclusion. He also said that Ajit Pawar took the final call for the NCP, just as Fadnavis did for the BJP and Eknath Shinde for the Shiv Sena.

Bhujbal also noted he wasn't disappointed about not being made a minister but felt humiliated by the treatment.

The senior leader claimed that he was asked to contest Lok Sabha elections in May but his name was never finalised. And then after winning assembly elections from Yeola seat, he was offered a Rajya Sabha seat.

‘Am I a toy in your hands?’

“When I wanted to be in the Rajya Sabha earlier this year, I was asked to fight the assembly elections. I was offered a Rajya Sabha seat eight days ago which I rejected. They didn't listen to me then, now they are giving it (Rajya Sabha seat). Am I a toy in your hands?” he asked. He also noted that he decided his moves depending on the whim of the party.

"I have confirmed that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis insisted on my inclusion in the state cabinet. The chief of each party in the Mahayuti alliance decides for his party. Fadnavis for BJP, Eknath Shinde for Shiv Sena, and Ajit Pawar for NCP," he said.

Fadnavis expanded his cabinet in Nagpur on Sunday and inducted 39 new members in his team — 19 from the BJP, 11 from the Shinde-led Shiv Sena and 9 from Ajit Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

Bhujbal was among 10 ministers who were dropped from the new council of ministers, which has 16 new faces.

The former food and civil supplies minister had expressed his disappointment and skipped the winter session of the state legislature. He returned to his constituency Yeola in Nashik district.