Lone Shiv Sena minister Anant Geete to quit Union Cabinet

MUMBAI: Union Minister for Heavy Industries Anant Geete will soon resign from the Narendra Modi government, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said in Mumbai on Monday. Geete, the lone Sena member in the Union Cabinet will submit his papers once Modi returns from his American visit.

“After PM Narendra Modi returns from the US, Geete will go to him and submit his resignation,” he said. Sena sources said the party was also likely to quit NDA too. However, there was no word on whether BJP would continue to support Sena in the Briha Mumbai Muncipal Corporation, Asia’s richest civic body.

Uddhav’s announcement followed estranged cousin and MNS chief Raj Thackeray riling him at a poll rally here on Sunday for the Sena “sticking to” power in Delhi despite breaking up with BJP. Raj had said that Uddhav should immediately ask Geete to resign as a mark of protest against the insult meted out to Shiv Sena.

Sena, ruling NDA’s second largest constituent with 18 Lok Sabha MPs, was upset over poor representation it got in the Modi government as well as Geete’s Heavy Industries portfolio, which it considered light weight. Geete, a sixth-time MP from Raigad in Konkan, had taken charge of the ministry after a delay of several days.

Geete, however, said that he has not been given any instruction so far and, therefore, the question of his resigning did not arise. “This is false news as I have not been given any instruction so far. So how does the question of my resignation arise,” said the Union minister.