Unhappy with Portfolio, Shiv Sena MLA quits Maharashtra cabinet

Manglore Today News Network

Mumbai, Jan 04, 2020:  Shiv Sena leader Abdul Sattar has resigned as a minister from the Maha Vikas Agadi government in Maharashtra, sources said today. The politician, who had joined the Shiv Sena from the Congress just before the assembly elections, was said to be upset over not being given a more prominent position in the state cabinet, NDTV reported.

 

The senior Aurangabad leader’s decision is yet to be accepted by his party. "We haven’t received his resignation," said senior Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde. 

Another senior party leader, Sanjay Raut, said that Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray will speak to Abdul Sattar in this regard. "Whenever cabinet expansion is taken up, some leaders are left disappointed over not getting the position of their choice. But they should understand that this is a government of the Maha Vikas Agadi and not Shiv Sena," he said, adding that Abdul Sattar was included in the cabinet "even though he came from outside".

Mr Raut said Abdul Sattar would get over his disappointment after a talk with Uddhav Thackeray. 

A former Congress MLA, Abdul Sattar had recently taken oath as a minister of state in the tri-party alliance government in Maharashtra. His son -- Sameer Sattar -- refused to comment on the development. "I have no information about this. Only he can speak on this, and I am sure he will speak soon. It would be better to wait and watch," news agency ANI quoted him as saying.

Earlier, several Congress leaders had also expressed disappointment over not being given positions in the state cabinet after the Shiv Sena joined hands with the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress to form a non-BJP government in Maharashtra.

Uddhav Thackeray’s son Aaditya Thackeray, Nationalist Congress Party’s Ajit Pawar and 34 other leaders from Shiv Sena, the NCP and the Congress were among the politicians who took oath as state cabinet ministers on December 30. Prakash Solanke, the Nationalist Congress Party MLA from Beed district, had resigned hours after the cabinet expansion, but denied reports that his decision was related to not being made a minister.

Union Minister Ramdas Athawale, whose Republican party of India (A) is allied with the BJP, had earlier termed the tri-party government in Maharashtra as an autorickshaw with wheels rotating in different directions. "Three parties have come together in Maharashtra, but I don’t think the three-wheeler can run for long," he said, in an apparent reference to the inherent ideological differences between the three allies.

The Shiv Sena had earlier severed ties with the BJP, its ally for three decades, after the latter refused to concede to its demand for rotational chief ministership in the state.