After boycotting the swearing-in ceremony of the Narendra Modi Government’s swearing-in ceremony, a miffed Shiv Sena on Sunday said on Sunday that given the manner in which various constituents were treated in the latest Cabinet expansion, the ruling NDA had either died a death or remained merely on paper.
A day after Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray said that it had not received any information from the Narendra Modi Government about the impending Cabinet expansion, the Sena leaders and MPs stayed away from the swearing-in ceremony held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi. Even the lone Sena minister in the Modi Cabinet Anant Geete did not make it to the swearing-in ceremony.
Talking to media persons here, Sena spokesperson and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut made no bones about the party’s displeasure over the NDA’s failure to take his party into confidence ahead of Sunday’s Cabinet expansion.
“What we saw today was the BJP’s Cabinet expansion. Naturally, the BJP is celebrating the occasion and distributing sweets. How are we involved in the whole thingIJ. Where does the question of our boycotting the swearing-in ceremony ariseIJ,” Raut asked.
“The NDA (of which we have been a constituent) has either died a death or remains merely on paper. When it needed constituents’ support in the election to Vice President’s post, the NDA suddenly remembered the existence of the NDA during that brief Parliament session,” the Sena spokesperson said.
“It only goes to show that the BJP believes in number game. The BJP has the numbers now and the majority has many faces. If it did not have a majority, the BJP would have come running to Mumbai ( to seek the Sena’s support) or Hyderabad ( to seek the the TDP’s support),” Raut said.
Reacting to Raut’s criticism of his party, city BJP leader Atul Bhatkalkar said: “The Shiv Sena has gone on record saying that it does not crave for power. Then where is the need for the Sena to crib about the denial of additional berth in the Union CabinetIJ. This is nothing but a classic case if sour grapes. Sanjay Raut is failed leader. One should not take his comments seriously”.
All the same, the fact remains that the Shiv Sena has not taken kindly to it having been ignored by the BJP in the Union Cabinet exercise. Currently, Heavy Industries and Public Sector Enterprises Minister Anant Geete is the only Sena Minister in the Narendra Modi Cabinet. The Sena has for time been expecting that it would get one more berth in the Union Cabinet.
Sena President Uddhav Thackeray had said on Saturday: “We have not received any telephone call from the ruling BJP about the Cabinet expansion scheduled for tomorrow. Nor have we contacted the BJP in this regard. Hence the question of our craving for power does not arise”.
“During the last 50 years, the Sena has pracitised an ideology where in 80 per cent of social work and the remaining 20 per cent politics. ...The entire country may be interested in tomorrow’s Cabinet expansion, but we are more interested Mumbaikars’ health issues in the wake of recent deluge in the city,” Uddhav had added.
Sunday was not the first occasion when the Sena leaders and MPs boycotted the Narendra Modi Government’s swearing-in Government.
Ahead of the earlier Union Cabinet expansion in November 2014, the Sena had nominated the name of Uddhav’s trusted lieutenant and party MP Anil Desai for inclusion in the Union Cabinet. However, owing to some issues with the ruling BJP, the Sena boycotted the NDA Government’s swearing-in ceremony in New Delhi. Desai had chosen to return to Mumbai from New Delhi airport itself, without taking oath of office as a Minister.