Ministerial portfolio allotment in a matter of hrs, could be 2 hrs or 72 hrs, we don’t know: Uday Samant

Industries Minister and Shiv Sena leader Uday Samant on Monday said portfolios to newly sworn-in ministers in the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government would be allocated in a matter of hours. “The allotment will happen in some hours. It could be two hours, 20 hours or 72 hours, we don’t know that,” he said.

Speaking at a press conference in Mumbai, Samant said that the allotment of portfolios would be done according to merit. “The three leaders — Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Ministers Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar — know Maharashtra and its geography very well. They will allocate the portfolios according to the abilities of the ministers. We have complete faith in Shinde’s leadership and we will accept the decision unanimously made by them,” he said, adding that ever since Ajit Pawar joined the ‘Mahayuti’, people have realised who exactly is taking the state and its people on the path of development.

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Regarding the SC order, Samant said the party will present its case to Assembly Speaker Rahul Narvekar. “We have original documents and numbers, and we have done it all legally, which we will present to the Speaker. We are sure that he will not do injustice to anyone. Beyond that, it will be wrong on our part to comment, especially after the EC has given its decision,” he added.

Responding to Sena (UBT) for calling Shiv Sena leaders “gaddars” and “khokhes”, Samant challenged the Uddhav Thackeray-led faction to do the same to Ajit Pawar and his partymen. He said, “I challenge them to indulge in name-calling as far as Ajit Pawar and other NCP leaders are concerned. Let us see what words they come up with.”