Mumbai: The state Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) core committee met Monday night in Mumbai amidst buzz of a cabinet reshuffle. While the legislative session of the state will start from December 11 in Nagpur, whispers are getting louder that a cabinet reshuffle will take place before the session. In this backdrop, BJP’s core committee discussed issues of political instability in case of Shiv Sena’s bitter decision. CM Devendra Fadnavis, BJP state chief Raosaheb Danve, finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar, education minister Vinod Tawde, and women and child development minister Pankaja Munde were present at the meeting. It was decided that Mr Fadnavis and Mr Danve would take a decision only after discussing issues with the central leadership.
Among the matters discussed was induction of former Congress leader Narayan Rane into the cabinet. With Mr Rane having earlier left Sena to join the Congress, he does not share a good equation with Shiv Sena chief, Uddhav Thackeray. Sena is disturbed over the issue of induction of Mr Rane into the cabinet and could walk out of the government, destabilising it.
Notwithstanding, BJP senior leaders stood their stand of inducting Mr Rane into the cabinet. “Mr Rane is a senior leader. He will be given a position of respect in the cabinet. The BJP government will survive and complete its tenure even after Mr Rane’s induction,” said Girish Bapat, senior minister and close confidante of the chief minister on Saturday in Pune.
