New Delhi: Expanding his Council of Ministers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inducted 19 new faces to the Cabinet, including several ministers from the Dalit community, on Tuesday in the Darbar Hall of Rashtrapati Bhavan.
The Modi-led BJP government seems to have further isolated its ally Shiv Sena as not a single leader from the Uddhav Thackeray-led party was inducted to the Union Cabinet.
After the reshuffle, two ministers from Maharashtra were given a place in the new Cabinet -- Ramdas Athavle, Leader of BJP's Maharashtra ally RPI and Dr Subhash Bhamre, BJP's Lok Sabha member.
Barely a day before the Cabinet expansion, Uddhav Thackeray took a dig at BJP stating that his party will not stand at their doorstep with a begging bowl for a seat in the new Cabinet, adding that the Modi government had not discussed anything about the expansion with him.
“One thing is clear, the Sena will not stand helplessly at anybody’s doors asking for anything,” Thackeray had told the media at Shiv Sena Bhavan in Dadar.
“First it (the BJP) was offering us minister of state, then it said we will get a Cabinet berth. Whatever we get, we should get it with respect,” he added.
