Hours after Maharashtra Cabinet expansion, NCP MLA from Beed district, Prakash Solanke, on Monday night announced that he would resign as the member of the Legislative Assembly, as he is “unworthy to do politics”.
Solanke, who got elected from Majalgaon seat on four occasions, denied any link between his sudden decision and his non-induction in the state Cabinet.
“I am going to resign on Tuesday and stay away from politics now,” Solanke was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
The MLA further said he was not unhappy with any leader in his party.
“I have apprised NCP leaders about my decision to step down. I will meet Legislative Assembly Speaker (in Mumbai) on Tuesday afternoon and hand over my resignation letter. My resignation has nothing to do with the Cabinet expansion,” he clarified.
On Monday, Maha Vikas Aghadi Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray expanded his Cabinet inducting 35 more ministers.
NCP leader Ajit Pawar, who drew criticism from within the party as well as allies Shiv Sena and Congress in Maharashtra for joining hands with the BJP earlier, bounced back as the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra for a record fourth time.
Youth icon and Uddhav Thackeray’s son Aaditya also took oath as a minister in the Maharashtra Government.
Ten of the 35 MLAs given ministerial berths belong to the Congress.
Out of the 35 ministers, 26 ministers were sworn-in as cabinet ministers and 10 ministers took oath as junior ministers. There are three women in the expanded Council of Ministers, including two of the cabinet rank – Varsha Gaikwad and Yashomati Thakur from Congress and Aditi Tatkare from NCP.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government led by Uddhav Thackeray was formed on November 28. The state Cabinet currently has six ministers, besides the Chief Minister.
Balasaheb Thorat and Nitin Raut of the Congress, Eknath Shinde and Subhash Desai of the Shiv Sena and Jayant Patil and Chhagan Bhujbal of the NCP took oath along with Thackeray on November 28.
The Shiv Sena last month joined hands with the Congress and NCP, its traditional adversaries, after its alliance with the BJP collapsed over the issue of sharing the chief ministerial post.