"Eknath Shinde bargained well, got good post for party": Shiv Sena's Sanjay Nirupam

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], June 10 (ANI): Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Nirupam who returned to his former party after being expelled from the Congress, took a different stand from his party chief Eknath Shinde, saying that the Sena has struck a good bargain with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and got the post of Minister of State (Independent Charge) in the new government, for his party.
"In 2019 when Shiv Sena was undivided and Uddhav Thackeray was the party chief, 18 MPs got elected. So did BJP give Ministership to every 18 Shiv Sena MP? Only one MP was a Minister," Nirupam said speaking to ANI on Monday.
The Shiv Sena leader said that it does not make much difference whether the Shiv Sena MP has been given a cabinet berth of Minister of State (Independent Charge) since the responsibilities are almost the same and the difference is only that of "nomenclature".
"What difference does it make whether it is a Cabinet Minister or Independent charge State Minister? One who gets appointed as MoS Independent Charge also has the full authority of a Minister. He is the head of the Ministry. It is just a difference of nomenclature," Nirupam said.
"When you had 18 MPs you had one Minister, now you have only one MP. I think Eknath Shinde had bargained well and got a good post for his party," he added.
Both the alliance partners of the BJP, the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) have been left dejected after they received Minister of State positions in the third term of the Narendra Modi government. Shiv Sena MP Pratap Jadhav was sworn in as a Minister of State on Sunday. The NCP rejected the offer and Praful Patel did not take oath.
In response to Congress leader Pawan Khera's remarks that it is an NDA 3.0 government rather than Modi 3.0, Nirupam pointed out that in the previous two terms of the Narendra Modi government, coalition partners got ministerial berths.
"If Congress party wants to set its own narrative through such arguments I wish them well. It will not make any difference. PM Modi has started his third term. This is 3.0. It might be opposed by Congress but neither Nitish (Kumar) nor (Chandrababu) Naidu has any problem with it," Nirupam said.
"It is a coalition government with the Bharatiya Janata Party and its allied partners. But it was a coalition government earlier as well. The coalition partners got Minister portfolios in the BJP or Narendra Modi government. So there is no meaning to such allegations," he said.
Narendra Modi took oath as Prime Minister of India for a third successive term on Sunday at an impressive ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhavan along with 71 Council of Ministers. (ANI)