|
Flush with the success of Congress which won four more Lok Sabha seats this time around, several newly-elected MPs have begun lobbying for a berth in the Congress-led Union ministry.
There is no question of NCP lobbying for key berths as it has lost the bargaining power, a senior state Congress leader said.
The Sharad Pawar-led party's tally has come down by one. While Congress won 17 seats, NCP won eight in Maharashtra. There were 10 ministers from the state in the Union cabinet: Pawar, Suryakanta Patil, Praful Patel (all NCP), Murli Deora, Sushilkumar Shinde, Prithviraj Chavan, A R Antulay and Vilas Muttemwar. Shivraj Patil and Manikrao Gavit quit the cabinet last year.
Suryakanta Patil and Antulay have lost the Lok Sabha polls. Suresh Kalmadi (Pune), Gurudas Kamat (Mumbai North-West), Milind Deora (Mumbai South), Mukul Wasnik (Ramtek) and Priya Dutt (Mumbai North-Central) are vying for a spot in the cabinet, the leader said.
Shinde, Wasnik and Eknath Gaikwad (Mumbai South-Central) are among the prominent Dalit MPs elected from the state. Shinde, who holds the energy portfolio, may get a better department, sources said.
There is also talk about his being considered for Lok Sabha Speaker's post. Wasnik, who is considered close to the Gandhi family, may be inducted in the cabinet, the sources said.
With Pawar's prime ministerial dreams coming crashing down, NCP has little choice but to "wait for the morsels that Congress hands over," the leader said. NCP sources said that in the event of the party not getting key portfolios, Pawar may opt to sit out of the cabinet, asking Patel and daughter Supriya Sule, who won by over three lakh votes from Baramati, to join the ministry.
In the outgoing cabinet, Pawar was the agriculture minister; Patel held the civil aviation portfolio and Suryakanta Patil was looking after the rural development department.
Undue lobbying on NCPs part for ministerial berths may send a wrong message among its supporters in the state, who are bracing to fight the October State Assembly elections, the sources said. | 
