Chirag-Manjhi got cabinet despite getting less seats, after NCP now Shiv Sena also angry over getting minister of state post

Shiv Sena has expressed disappointment over not getting any cabinet level post in the new National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. A day earlier, Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) had also demanded a cabinet post and expressed disappointment over its MPs being given the role of minister of state. Shrirang Barne, chief whip of the Eknath Shinde-led party, citing the ratio of other NDA allies in the new council of ministers, said that we were expecting a place in the cabinet. Chirag Paswan has five MPs, Jitan Ram Manjhi has one, JDS has two MPs. Yet they got one cabinet post each. Despite having seven Lok Sabha seats, why did Shiv Sena get only one Minister of State (MoS)? A post with independent charge? Is Shiv Sena an old ally of BJP. At least one cabinet post should have been given to it. The NCP, another NDA ally in Maharashtra, has also demanded a cabinet post. Expressing displeasure just before the swearing-in ceremony on June 9, the NCP rejected the minister of state offer, with party chief Ajit Pawar and Rajya Sabha MP Praful Patel calling it a “demotion”. Praful Patel, who has served as a cabinet minister in the central government, said he did not find it appropriate to accept the post of minister of state with independent charge. “So we told them (BJP) that we are ready to wait for a few days, but we want a cabinet post. We are going to attend the swearing-in ceremony today,” Ajit Pawar had said ahead of the swearing-in ceremony. In the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, the Shiv Sena won 7 of the 15 seats it contested in Maharashtra, while Ajit Pawar’s NCP got one seat out of four out of the total 48 seats. The BJP won nine seats in the state.