P Chidambaram, a senior leader of the Congress, attacked the Maharashtra government, comparing it to a three-legged animal which is running in a 100-meter race. Chidambaram’s dig came days after Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar faced a revolt by his nephew Ajit Pawar who along with eight other leaders joined the Eknath Shinde-led government.
In a tweet, Chidambaram said, The CM and the two Deputy CMs of Maharashtra claim that their government is a triple-engine government. It seems to me like a three-legged animal which is running a 100 metre race. Nine new ministers in Maharashtra do not have any work because portfolios have not be allotted to them, he said.
None of the other 20 ministers, including (Devendra) Fadnavis, wants to give up any portfolio. There is a solution: declare that the nine new ministers will be ministers without portfolio, Chidambaram said. The nine new entrants joined the government in order to be ministers, he alleged. Who said they wanted to be ministers with portfolios, Chidambaram asked.
In a surprising move, Ajit Pawar took oath as the deputy chief minister, while eight legislators of his NCP took oath as ministers in the government led by the Shiv Sena and the BJP earlier in the day.