10 July,2023 09:53 PM IST | Mumbai | Ronak Mastakar
Uday Samant
While more than a week has passed since nine Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLAs were inducted into the Maharashtra cabinet under Eknath Shinde, the Shiv Sena on Monday said that Maharashtra cabinet ministry portfolios would be allocated in a matter of hours.
"The allotment will happen in some hours. It could be two hours, 20 hours, or 72 hours, we don't know that," said State Industries Minister and Shiv Sena leader Uday Samant.
While speaking at a press conference in Mumbai, Uday Samant said that the allotment of portfolios would happen according to the merit of the aspirants.
"The three leaders-- CM Eknath Shinde and two Deputy CMs Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar-- know Maharashtra and its geography very well. They will allocate the portfolios according to the abilities of the MLAs. We have complete faith in Eknath Shinde's leadership and we will accept the decision unanimously made by them," he said, adding that ever since Ajit Pawar joined the Mahayuti, people realised who exactly is developing the state and its people.
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Regarding the Supreme Court order, Samant said that the party will present its case to the Assembly Speaker Rahul Narverkar. "We have the original documents and numbers, and we have done it all legally, which we will present to the speaker along with examples. We are sure that he will not do injustice to anyone. Beyond that, it will be wrong on our part to comment, especially after the Election Commission has given its decision," he added.
Responding to Shiv Sena (UBT) for calling Shiv Sena gaddars and khokhes, Uday Samant challenged the Uddhav Thackeray-led faction to do the same to Ajit Pawar and his partymen.
"I challenge them to do name-calling to Ajit Pawar and other NCP leaders. Let us see what words they come up with," he said.
On July 2, Ajit Pawar stunned his uncle Sharad Pawar and led a vertical split in the NCP as he and eight other MLAs joined the Maharashtra government led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis. Ajit Pawar took the oath as the Deputy Chief Minister for the third time in four years.
Additionally, eight NCP leaders were sworn in as ministers during the ceremony at Raj Bhavan in South Mumbai.
