Senior Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Chhagan Bhujbal on Friday said that Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was keen on taking him in his cabinet during its first expansion in December also and played a key role in his induction this week, reported the PTI.

Chhagan Bhujbal (77), a prominent OBC leader, was inducted into the Fadnavis cabinet on Tuesday (May 20), marking his return to the Mahayuti 2.0 government after he was ignored for a ministerial position after the BJP-led coalition came back to power post-landslide victory in the November 2024 assembly polls.