Maharashtra Cabinet Expansion : Shiv Sena is making efforts to convince the leaders who are angry due to not being included in the state cabinet in Maharashtra. Shiv Sena leader and Maharashtra minister Uday Samant, while talking to journalists on Tuesday, admitted that some MLAs of the party may be angry due to not being given ministerial posts.

16 new faces got place

In the first cabinet expansion of the Devendra Fadnavis-led government in the Maharashtra Assembly, 39 MLAs of the grand alliance of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) were sworn in as ministers on December 15. 10 ministers of the previous grand alliance government were not given a chance this time, while 16 new faces were included in the cabinet. BJP got 19 ministerial posts, while Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena got 11 and Ajit Pawar's NCP got nine ministerial posts.

Samant said that we work like a family under the leadership of Eknath Shinde. If someone does not get a place in the cabinet, there can be resentment. It is the responsibility of those who have become ministers to remove the resentment. We are working to resolve this.

Samant said whether it is Shiv Sena leader Tanaji Sawant or Vijay Shivtare, Deputy Chief Minister Shinde will convince them. He said that some party leaders are angry over not being included in the state cabinet. He said, "If we do not do good work in two or three months, then Shinde, who made us ministers, will take back our ministerial post."

When will the departments be allotted?

Samant said it was not possible to accommodate everyone as the Shiv Sena has only 12 posts in the state cabinet. He also said the portfolios would be allocated soon.

Earlier, Shiv Sena leader Shivtare had expressed disappointment over being ignored in the first cabinet expansion of the Fadnavis-led government. Angry Shivtare said that even if he is offered a ministerial post after two and a half years, he will not accept it. Shiv Sena MLA from Bhandara and ministerial aspirant Narendra Bhondekar resigned from all party posts (Deputy Leader and Coordinator of East Vidarbha) after being ignored for the ministerial post.

Uddhav met Fadnavis

Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray met Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at Vidhan Bhavan. This was the first time Uddhav Thackeray met Fadnavis after the assembly elections in Maharashtra. This meeting between the two leaders took place in Fadnavis' chamber.

During this meeting, Shiv Sena (Ubatha) MLAs Aditya Thackeray, Anil Parab and Varun Sardesai were also present with Uddhav. Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray is a member of the State Legislative Council.