Devendra Fadnavis, Ajit Pawar are big-hearted: Eknath Shinde

As he shared the dias with his two deputies, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Saturday described Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar as “big-hearted persons” - putting to rest any sort of differences within the BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP alliance government.

Shinde (59), the chief leader of Shiv Sena, said that he enjoys very good working relationships with Fadnavis (52), a former chief minister and ex-Leader of the Opposition and Pawar (63), a five-time deputy chief minister and ex-Leader of the Opposition.

Shinde’s praise of Fadnavis and Pawar, the two Deputy Chief Ministers, came at the ‘Shasan Aplya Dari’ (government at your doorstep) event in Nashik - a programme that provides citizens with easy access to government schemes and documents, all in one place.

Also Read: Maharashtra Cabinet expansion: NCP ministers given portfolios, Ajit Pawar gets finance

“Devendra ji is a person with big-heart…we have worked together…when he was the Chief Minister (from 2014-19 in the BJP-Shiv Sena government))…I was a minister in the government…now I am the Chief Minister and he has joined the government as Deputy Chief Minister to support me,” Shinde said.

“I have worked with Ajit Dada when he was the Deputy Chief Minister (in the Maha Vikas Aghadi government) and I was a minister…now Ajit Dada has joined the government as another Deputy Chief Minister along with Devendra ji…Ajit Dada too is a person with big heart,” he said.

In their respective speeches, Shinde, Fadnavis and Pawar assured to take Maharashtra to newer heights under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

It may be mentioned, over the past week, there was a sort of tussle between the three allies over the distribution of portfolios.

The total strength of Cabinet ministers is now 29 - Shiv Sena (10), BJP (10) and NCP (9).

The Maharashtra Legislative Assembly comprises 288 seats and accordingly, the ministerial strength could be 43 - and with a 29-member ministry now, there are 14 vacancies - and one more Cabinet expansion would be undertaken ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha polls.