Mumbai: Senior Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Monday skipped the swearing-in ceremony of new ministers in the Maharashtra cabinet, setting rumour mills abuzz that the move signalled the Uddhav Thackeray confidant was upset over his brother not making the cut.
A month after taking over as the CM, Thackeray added 36 MLAs to the list of ministers, which included his son Aaditya Thackeray and Congress leader Ashok Chavan among others. However, Sunil Raut is not part of the list.
When asked if he was upset with the development, Sanjay Raut said:" It is a government of three parties where able people are in every party. So whatever is given in the quota has to be accepted. I am happy that Uddhav Thackeray is the chief minister of the state."
“We have never asked for anything. Instead, we believe in giving to the party. My brother Sunil has never demanded a ministerial berth. Some people are only spreading rumours,” he was quoted as saying to news agency ANI.
Sanjay Raut added that his family had contributed to the government formation in the state and they would always be loyal to the Thackerays.
The senior Sena leader played a key role in the Thackeray-led party joining hands with the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress to form the government in Maharashtra despite a midnight coup followed by a patch-up with NCP’s Ajit Pawar.
The BJP too skipped the event and cited the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government's "failure" in keeping the promises made to farmers by its leaders as the reason to not attend the "extravagant" event at Vidhan Bhavan.
Another BJP leader said there was no need to attend the expansion of cabinet since senior leaders of the party had attended the swearing-in ceremony of Thackeray as chief minister at the Shivaji Park in Dadar on November 28.
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