Cabinet exclusion is move to end Bhujbal 'chapter', but he won't give in easily: Awhad

Nagpur, Dec 17 (PTI) Nationalist Congress Party (SP) MLA Jitendra Awhad on Tuesday said not including NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal in the Maharashtra cabinet was a move to end his political career, but he is someone who will not give in easily.

Talking to reporters here, Awhad said injustice has been done to Bhujbal.

"Looking at his age, temperament, his fight, he should have got justice. The Maratha-OBC divide (a reference to the Maratha quota protest and the counter-protest by the OBC) was engineered by the (Eknath Shinde-led) government that was in power then," the former minister said.

"Now, the same Bhujbal has been relegated to the rear seat. Decision has been taken to end the Bhujbal chapter, but he is not the one who will give in," Awhad said on his former party colleague.

Bhujbal is miffed over not finding a place in the cabinet and has expressed his displeasure publicly.

Awhad said Bhujbal must have realised who hatched a conspiracy against him.

Bhujbal, a confidant of Sharad Pawar, was one of the NCP leaders who switched to the Ajit Pawar camp when the latter rebelled against the party founder. A strong OBC leader, Bhujbal was also a minister in the previous Eknath Shinde-led government.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis expanded his cabinet in Nagpur on Sunday and inducted 39 new members in his team - 19 from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), 11 from the Shinde-led Shiv Sena and 9 from Ajit Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

Bhujbal was among 10 ministers who were dropped from the new council of ministers, which has 16 new faces. The former food and civil supplies minister expressed his disappointment and skipped the winter session of the state legislature. He returned to his constituency Yeola in Nashik district. PTI PR NP