Rubbishing the speculation in the media about his resignation from his post, Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde said here on Thursday that his government was getting stronger by the day, it had more than 200 MLAs with it after the entry of the Ajit Pawar-led NCP faction and that it enjoyed the support Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Amid political speculation that his position had weakened after the NCP breakaway leader Ajit Pawar’s statement that his party intended to contest 90 seats in the State Assembly polls, Shinde said: “Right from the day I was sworn into the office, people have been saying that our government will collapse soon and will longer be the chief minister. The fact remains that our government is getting stronger by the day. The number of MLAs belonging to the three parties in our government has crossed 200 MLAs’ mark”.
“We enjoy the full support of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Amitbhai takes constant interest in our government. Whenever we approach a him with problem or demand, he immediately addresses it. The double-engine government is working effectively. That’s why the Opposition cannot stomach our success”.
Shinde’s assertion comes in the backdrop of news reports that several of the MLAs from the Shiv Sena led by him were not happy with the Ajit Pawar-led NCP joining the government. So much so that a few of the Shinde Sena MLAs have gone on record expressing their displeasure over Ajit Pawar and eight senior NCP MLAs being sworn in as ministers in the state government.
In his effort to keep his flock together, Shinde held a meeting of his party’s MLAs and MPs at his official residence “Varsha” on Wednesday evening, at which he sought smoothen the ruffled feathers of the party MLAs many of whom are aspiring for ministerial berths in his government. He also indirectly advised against going back to the parent Shiv Sena led by Uddhav Thackeray.
Shinde and others present at the meeting took stock of the the situation arising of the inclusion of the Ajit Pawar- led NCP in his government and the measures to be taken to strengthen the party grass-root level ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha and State Assembly polls.
The chief minister is under tremendous pressure from his party MLAs for induction of some of them in the Shinde-Fadnavis government.
The clamour by the Shinde Sena MLAs for induction in the State Cabinet should be seen in the light of the fact that after the swearing-in of Ajit Pawar and eight other NCP MLAs, the strength of the Shinde-Fadnavis cabinet has gone up to 29 in the 42-member Cabinet. Currently, as many as 14 ministerial berths are vacant.
Given that there is a demand from the ruling BJP MLAs for inclusion in his Cabinet, Shinde will have to tread cautiously. While he has keep his MLAs in good humour by giving ministerial and other posts, Shinde will have to accommodate the BJP in a big way.
Meanwhile, State Assembly Speaker Rahul Narvekar is preparing himself to deliver his ruling on Sena (UBT)’s plea for disqualification of 16 Sena MLAs who had rebelled against the leadership of Sena president Uddhav Thackeray in June last year. If the Speaker’s ruling goes against his faction, Shinde will have to step down from the chief minister’s post –a prospect that has been haunting him for some time now.