Senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Chhagan Bhujbal said on Thursday that he does not want to become a minister in the Maharashtra government at the expense of any of his colleagues.
“I do not want a ministerial post if for this someone else has to be removed from the cabinet,” the senior leader told reporters in Nashik after returning from a foreign trip.
Congress’s Vijay Wadettiwar and NCP-Sharadchandra Pawar’s Jitendra Awhad had claimed that Bhujbal would be included in the Devendra Fadnavis-led government, replacing Dhananjay Munde.
Munde is facing criticism over his aide Valmik Karad’s alleged involvement in an extortion case related to the murder of Masajog sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh.
“I have deliberately taken a break from politics for some time,” Bhujbal said about his trip abroad.
“I have been active in politics since 1967, but sometimes the political mind needs rest,” he said.
The NCP leader was the food and civil supplies minister in the previous grand alliance government but was dropped after the assembly elections in November.
This department is currently with Munde. Bhujbal also clarified that Chief Minister Fadnavis had not promised him a ministerial post.
“Fadnavis had only said let’s wait for seven to eight days and discuss it,” he said.
The NCP leader said, “What can I say about what Wadettiwar or Jitendra Awhad have said? “I don’t want the position at anyone else’s expense.”
