Shinde-led Sena had urged BJP to not give finance dept to Ajit Pawar: Raut

Shiv Sena UBT leader Sanjay Raut on Saturday claimed Chief Minister Eknath Shindeled Shiv Sena had urged the BJP leadership in Delhi to not give finance portfolio to NCP leader Ajit Pawar but it did not relentHe also claimed the Shindeled Sena was told that if it had issues with the NCP leader getting the finance ministry in the Maharashtra government then it could swap the chief ministers post with him Ajit PawarResponding to Rauts claim Pawar said this was an attempt to disturb the atmosphere unnecessarilyThey went to Delhi and they were not paid any heed They were told to stay in government if they are willing Delhi said if you have issues with Ajit Pawar keeping the finance department then keep the department with you and swap the chief ministers post with him Pawar This is my information Raut claimed while speaking to reportersPawar was allocated the key Finance and Planning ministry on Friday when portfolios were allocated to nine NCP MLAs who joined the ShindeFadnavis government on July 2 The finance portfolio was held by Deputy Chief Minister Devendra FadnavisNotably Shinde and other MLAs of Shiv Sena had cited the blocking of funds by Ajit Pawar as finance minister in the erstwhile MVA government as one of the reasons behind their rebellion against Uddhav Thackeray last yearRaut said welcoming Ajit Pawar into the state cabinet and as the finance minister shows the helplessness of the Shinde factionThe importance of the Shinde faction was restricted to splitting the Shiv Sena and it is over now I doubt whether the Ajit Pawar faction will be in power for a long time BJPs policy is to use and throw the Shiv Sena UBT MP addedHe claimed at least 1718 MLAs are in touch with Shiv Sena UBT but they have not decided what to do with themRaut said Uddhav Thackeray will travel to Bengaluru to attend the meeting of Opposition parties next weekAsked about Rauts claim that the Shindeled faction was asked to give up the CMs post as it was not willing to part with the finance portfolio Pawar said I dont know This is an attempt to disturb the atmosphere unnecessarily We are happy with the portfolio allocationThere are around 14 vacant positions in the cabinet and expansion of the cabinet is the chief ministers prerogative he told reporters in NashikThe CM will decide I will not speak about it Pawar said in response to a query about the cabinet expansionThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever