The boycott of prominent OBC leaders such as NCP’s Chhagan Bhujbal and BJP’s Gopichand Padalkar has angered OBC community leaders targeting Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar. Likewise, some leaders who did not get a place in the ministry have openly expressed their anger and dissatisfaction.
Speaking to reporters in Pune, OBC activist Laxman Hake, who had started an indefinite fast to take on Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange-Patil, said, “Why were prominent OBC leaders not included in the cabinet. Ajit Pawar should answer this question.With this, Bhujbal will be made deputy chief minister for two and a half years?
Hake said that while the OBC community was happy after the inclusion of Dhananjay Munde and Pankaja Munde in the Cabinet, the exclusion of Chhagan Bhujbal and Gopichand hurt the community. Bhujbal is fighting for justice for the OBC community. He should have been given a place in the state cabinet. I think the OBC community has been insulted. We announced that we are with the Mahayuti. The entire OBC community voted in favor of the Mahayuti. Still we don’t know why Chhagan Bhujbal and Gopichand Padalkar were ignored.
Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar, who is also an OBC leader, said, “Injustice has been done not only to Bhujbal, but to the entire OBC community.”
CPN (SP) leader Jitendra Awhad said that Bhujbal has great experience in parliamentary work. He said, ‘When he was in the opposition, he used to create a commotion in the house alone.
However, CPN spokesperson Amol Mitkari said, ‘Bhujbal was not disturbed, Bhujbal is the soul of CPN, the soul cannot leave the body. If Bhujbal is not given a ministerial post, it means Ajit Pawar has big things in mind for him. Bhujbal, on his part, made no bones about the fact that he was upset at his exclusion.
“I have been rewarded for taking it head-on by excluding Manoj Jarange-Patil from the ministry,” senior NCP leader Bhujbal said at a press conference in Nagpur on Monday.
Bhujbal said, “I fought on behalf of the OBC community. So the whole community united and Mahayuti achieved great success. Those who believe that the Mahayuti has succeeded because of the OBC community, I want to thank them,” he said.
‘I was made a minister in the past, I was also ignored. But I am not done yet.” Bhujbal was a minister in the Eknath Shinde-led Mahayuti government that completed its two-and-a-half-year tenure.
Reacting to Bhujbal’s boycott, Jarange-Patil said, “We have nothing to do with it… We don’t want to talk about anyone targeting our reservation.”
Senior BJP leader Sudhir Mungantiwar, who did not get a ministerial berth under CM Devemdra Fadnavis, said, “Earlier I was told that I would be made a minister. Then I was told not to be made a minister. I am looking forward to my new responsibilities. I was in constant touch with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and State BJP President Chandrasekhar Bawankule. They never hinted to me that I wouldn’t have a name. They kept telling me that they have sent my name to Delhi. But my name was lost in the list. Since yesterday evening, I have been thinking about what happened. “
Mungantiwar added, ‘I am not disturbed. I did not attend the meeting because I am not a minister now…”
Reacting to Mungantiwar’s statement, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said, “I have had a long discussion with him, he will be given another responsibility in the party.”
Shiv Sena’s Vijay Sivatare criticized him more strongly in his attack on the removal.
I am not sad that my name has been removed. But the way it happened, taken on faith, it was not 100% as I expected. After two and a half years, if I was given the post of minister, I was ready to take it. I am not angry that I did not get the ministerial position, but I am angry with the way I was treated,’ he said.
Shivtare said that the position of minister is not important for him. “What bothers me is where Maharashtra is going… I think we are going back, we are going the way of Bihar.”
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