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Fadnavis backs Ajit Pawar who cautions Bhujbal against creating misunderstanding

Bhujbal has drawn widespread support from OBC leaders against his exclusion from the cabinet. He is meeting them and has said he would soon decide his next course of action.

Chhagan Bhujbal''Ajit Pawar did not include Bhujbal in the cabinet, but he did not deliberately keep him out,'' the CM told reporters in Pune today. (File)

BACKING Ajit Pawar, who is under fire from OBC leaders for not including Chhagan Bhujbal in the state cabinet, CM Devendra Fadnavis today said the Dy CM had no intention to deliberately keep the senior NCP leader out of the cabinet. On his part, Ajit Pawar cautioned Bhujbal against creating needless misunderstanding.

short article insert ”Ajit Pawar did not include Bhujbal in the cabinet, but he did not deliberately keep him out,” the CM told reporters in Pune today.
Deputy CM Ajit Pawar who was also in Pune today cautioned Bhujbal against creating misunderstandings over his exclusion from the cabinet.”

“Some (read Bhujbal) are angry at not being given a berth in the state cabinet, but sometimes new people need to be given a chance. It is not right to create needless misunderstanding. We have thought about how we can give a chance to senior people at the Centre instead of giving them another chance in the state government. Ajit Pawar will never disrespect others,” Fadnavis said.

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Bhujbal has drawn widespread support from OBC leaders against his exclusion from the cabinet. He is meeting them and has said he would soon decide his next course of action.

Meanwhile, Fadnavis said, ”Bhujbal is a prominent leader of Mahayuti. Leaders of all three parties respect him. He played a big hand in our victory. Ajit Pawar himself is always concerned about him. We want Bhujbal with us on the battleground.”

Fadnavis said Ajit Pawar wants Bhujbal to play a role at the national level. ”He has told me that NCP is a national party, and he wants to ensure it expands at the national level. Ajt Pawar has also told me that Bhujbal is respected in other states too, which is why he wants him to lead at a national level. However, Bhujbal has a different perspective, that’s why the problem has arisen. We will all sit and find a solution together,” he said.

Meanwhile, the State Agriculture Minister Manikrao Kokate, an NCP leader, said,”Chhagan Bhujbal as an OBC leader favours only his son and nephew. He can’t see any other OBC leader.”

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Kokate said, ”Bhujbal today met Fadnavis and seems to have ranted and expressed his anger. I think Fadnavis will find a solution, as he believes in justice to all. There are 42 ministers in the cabinet. 16 of them are Marathas and 17 OBCs. And that is why it seems he has taken a stand to ensure equal justice for all. We have nothing to say about it.’

Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades.   Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives. Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees. During Covid, over 50 doctors were  asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa. Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died.     Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More


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