Amit Shah discusses cabinet berths with Fadnavis, Shinde and Ajit

BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis, Shiv Sena's Eknath Shinde and Nationalist Congress Party's Ajit Pawar on Thursday met Union Home Minister Amit Shah to discuss sharing of cabinet berths.

Shah and BJP chief JP Nadda met with Shinde at Shah's residence before the meeting with Fadnavis and Pawar. The three of them met for around twenty minutes.

While Shah was meeting Shinde, Fadnavis was meeting NCP leaders Ajit Pawar and Praful Patel at their party MP Sunil Tatkare's residence.


Later Fadnavis, along with Pawar and Patel, also joined the meeting at Shah's residence.

Earlier in the day, Nadda also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Parliament building.

Incidentally, there is still suspense on whether the BJP intends to go with Devendra Fadnavis as the chief minister, primarily due to caste considerations. According to sources, Fadnavis is the BJP's choice for the position of Chief Minister and is expected to take the oath on December 2.

Ministerial berth allocations in the Maharashtra government are going to be discussed among the three parties. According to sources, the Shiv Sena and NCP may each receive one central cabinet post. Following the meeting, it would be clear who would serve as chief minister. A team of two central observers is expected to be sent to Mumbai to elect the BJP's legislative party leader, who will become the next chief minister.

Ajit Pawar and Eknath Shinde would be the Deputy CMs and the two will have similar portfolios that they held in the earlier government. Pawar was the finance minister while Shinde had the urban development portfolio.

The BJP will, however, allocate more and better berths to Shiv Sena ministers compared to NCP as the BJP leadership believes that Shinde's hands need to be strengthened to keep Uddhav Thackeray in check.