Ahead of NCP meeting, Chhagan Bhujbal denies reports of fight with Cong's Ashok Chavan

On Wednesday, senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal denied reports that he had fought with Maharashtra Public Works Minister Ashok Chavan. He challenged media to find a single eyewitness who could endorse that an argument took place between two leaders. Bhujbal holds Food, Civil Supplies, and Consumer protection portfolios in Maharashtra cabinet. Earlier, sources had revealed that Bhujbal and Chavan had a heated fight over who would occupy chair close to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray during a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday. Meanwhile, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar has called a meeting of all MLAs in Mumbai at 5 pm on Wednesday.  

Read: Congress Attempts Dam Control As MLAs Upset Over Portfolio Allocation In Maharashtra

Cabinet expansion in Maharashtra

A total of 12 Shiv Sena, 14 NCP, and 10 Congress MLAs were administered oath of office and secrecy in Maharashtra Cabinet expansion. This includes Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, Jitendra Awhad, spokesperson Nawab Malik, senior legislator Hasan Mushrif, newly-elected MLA Dhananjay Munde and Abdul Sattar, former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan and CM's son Aaditya Thackeray. This led to considerable unease in Maha Vikas Aghadi, with many MLAs publicly voicing ir displeasure after missing out on a Cabinet berth. 

Read: Few Ministries, Too Many Want To Be Ministers, Little Difficulty: Congress Admits Discord

Infighting within Congress over Cabinet berth and portfolio

Jalna MLA Kailash Gorantyal publicly anunced that he had sent his resignation to Congress state president as he was denied a Cabinet berth. As per sources, senior party leader Mallikarjun Kharge has spoken to Gorantyal. Moreover, it is being speculated that Energy Minister Nitin Raut is unhappy as he was reportedly eyeing portfolios assigned to Ashok Chavan and Balasaheb Thorat. Ar minister Vijay Wadettiwar skipped Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting as he was allegedly miffed at t getting important portfolios.

Read: Maharashtra: Sharad Pawar Calls NCP Meet After Bhujbal, Ashok Chavan Tussle Over Seating

Just before Cabinet expansion, Maharashtra Revenue Minister Thorat admitted to infighting in his party over Cabinet expansion. Initially, he maintained that it was rmal for allocation of portfolios to take two to three days. Subsequently, he conceded that re was disappointment in Congress ranks as number of MLAs interested in becoming ministers were much more than number of ministries allocated to party.  

Read: Uddhav Thackeray Plans First Ayodhya Visit Since Becoming Maharashtra CM; Details Here