Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], July 15 : A day after the major cabinet expansion in Eknath Shinde-led government, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLA Rohit Pawar on Saturday said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been trying to create a dispute between the ministers of the NCP who joined the Shinde Faction.
Rohit Pawar, grand-nephew of Sharad Pawar further said that the NCP and his family has become the casualty of the conflict created by the BJP.
"NCP chief Sharad Pawar believes that BJP has broke the family and the party...If BJP is answerable for all then the main target will be BJP. It (BJP) will always try to create a tussle between Uddhav Thackeray and Shinde faction. BJP is trying to create a dispute between the ministers of NCP and those who have joined the Shinde faction to waste time...In all this, BJP which is the main target gets sidelined...," Rohit Pawar said.
NCP experienced an internal division as senior leader Ajit Pawar joined the BJP-led Eknath Shinde government along with a group of MLAs.
In a major Cabinet expansion in the Eknath Shinde-led government soon after the inclusion of nine MLAs of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), new Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has been entrusted with finance and planning ministries.
Additionally, the Shiv Sena, led by Eknath Shinde, has lost three portfolios, including agriculture, relief and rehabilitation.
On July 2, NCP leader Ajit Pawar took oath as Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister with eight other party legislators also joining the National Democratic Alliance government in the state.
Ajit Pawar has also been entrusted with the finance and planning ministries
The NCP has 53 MLAs and nine MLCs, of who nine MLAs including Ajit Pawar have joined the Eknath Shinde government.
Last year, Shinde, then a minister in the MVA government, staged a silent coup in the undivided Sena after floating a rival faction with a band of loyalist MLAs.
The MVA government, which was reduced to a minority in the wake of Shinde's rebellion, collapsed after losing a floor test in the Assembly.
Shinde eventually took oath as the chief minister with support from the BJP.
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