Ajit Pawar: 'Shouldn't be any problem in declaring the portfolios by evening of Jan 2'

On Wednesday, Maharashtra Deputy Minister Ajit Pawar revealed that the portfolios of the ministers could be declared by the evening of January 2. He mentioned that the list of guardian ministers for the 36 districts of the state had also been discussed in the meetings with Congress and Shiv Sena. According to him, the allocation of offices to ministers had also been finalised as per seniority.  

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Ajit Pawar remarked, “We had a discussion on many issues. After the 36 ministers were sworn in day before yesterday, the entire Cabinet has come into existence. We had discussions about the guardian ministers as well. Also, the allocation of portfolios for all the 43 ministers was also discussed. There should not be any problem in declaring the portfolios by tomorrow evening. It has also been finalised as to which minister will be allotted which office as per seniority.” 

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'Sharad Pawar had finalised the portfolios' 

Speaking to the media, Ajit Pawar denied that he had demanded the Home portfolio. He observed that NCP chief Sharad Pawar had approved the list of portfolios to be allocated to the ministers of his party. Thereafter, he confirmed that this list had been handed over to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.  

The Maharashtra Deputy CM said, “In our party, Sharad Pawar took the responsibility and had finalised the portfolios. He had informed me & Jayant Patil. We have given that paper to the Maharashtra Chief Minister and the portfolios will be allocated according to that.”  

Read: NCP MLA Lays Bare Discontent Over Cabinet Expansion; But Takes A U-turn On His Resignation

Disappointment in Congress camp

Wednesday witnessed a series of meetings between all the Maha Vikas Aghadi partners to reach a conclusion on the allocation of portfolios. Meanwhile, Maharashtra Revenue Minister and Congress state president Balasaheb Thorat admitted to the infighting in his party over the Cabinet expansion. He conceded that there was disappointment in the Congress ranks as the number of MLAs interested in becoming ministers were much more than the number of ministries allocated to the party.  

(With ANI inputs)

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