Prominent OBC leader and Maharashtra Minister Chhagan Bhujbal refuted claims of being sidelined within the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress party despite criticising the State government’s handling of the Maratha quota agitation.
“I am a minister, and so far, no one in the party has spoken against me,” he affirmed, adding that Ajit Pawar acknowledged his right to advocate for the OBCs, a stance he has maintained consistently.
Responding to Shiv Sena legislator Sanjay Gaikawad’s demand of removing Mr. Bhujabal from the State cabinet, the 76-year-old leader said, “I want to tell Mr. Gaikwad that I was a senior professor at the ‘Shiv Sena institute’ where he studied, but Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has all rights to remove me from his cabinet.”
