Amid a standoff over the allocation of portfolios in Maharashtra, senior NCP leaders Ajit Pawar and Praful Patel arrived?on Wednesday evening for a meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah and top BJP leaders.
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Talking to reporters here, Patel, the working president of the Nationalist Congress Party, dismissed suggestions about a rift in the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP alliance in Maharashtra and asserted that the issue about the allocation of portfolios has been sorted out and a cabinet expansion in the state will take place in a day or two.
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In a surprise development on July 2, the Sharad Pawar-led NCP split as his nephew Ajit Pawar and almost three dozen MLAs joined the ruling Shiv Sena-BJP alliance. Ajit Pawar and eight other NCP leaders were sworn in as ministers.
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"Do not read too much into our meetings here. It is just a courtesy call to senior BJP leaders. Ajit Dada and I have not had a formal meeting with the top BJP leadership. We will be meeting Home Minister Amit Shah and other BJP leaders here," Patel said.
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He asserted that the issue of the allocation of portfolios has been sorted out during two late-night meetings between Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy Chief Ministers Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar, and himself on Monday and Tuesday.
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"The expansion of the Maharashtra cabinet will happen in a day or two," Patel said.
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Besides Patel and Ajit Pawar, senior NCP leader Hasan Mushrif is also in the national capital.
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However, Patel said Mushrif is here for some personal work and will not join Ajit Pawar at the meeting with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders.
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Patel said Ajit Pawar and he will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on July 18 when a meeting of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) constituents has been convened by the BJP.