MUMBAI: An MLA from Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena Bharat Gogawale has alleged that three party MLAs blackmailed the CM to get the ministerial berths, and that he as a “genuine contender” was ignored.
Gogwale revealed that when the ministerial allocation took place, his name was in the first list. “One Sena MLA told the CM that if he is not inducted as a minister, his wife will commit suicide. The CM told me that he’d have to save the woman’s life,” Gogawale said.
He said another Shiv Sena MLA whose name was not in the minister list threatened the CM that if was denied the cabinet ministry, his local region BJP leader and Union minister Narayan Rane will finish him politically.
“Then, this MLA bagged the minister…so my name was put on the waiting list.” The third MLA threatened Shinde that if he was not made the minister, he would resign as MLA and pull out from the government. “The CM had little option but to accommodate these disgruntled MLAs who blackmailed the CM to get ministerial berths,” Gogawale added.
He added, his name is still on the waiting list. “When Ajit Pawar and his MLA were inducted as ministers, that time also, I was told that I would take the oath with Ajit Pawar. I waited for it, but no one asked me to take the oath.”
He said each time, there was a talk of cabinet expansion, our hope rise, but in the end we don’t get anything. “People who do the blackmail politics get the posts and positions,” said Gogawale. Meanwhile, Shinde has invited his government ministers, top leaders and consulate officers for a dinner at the Taj in Bandra on Thursday.
“The dinner diplomacy by Shinde is to pacify the people who have been troubling him for a ministerial berth and also an attempt to garner the support of the MLAs and ministers so that he can remain
in the chair,” said a political analyst.