'NDA is almost dead', says disgruntled Shiv Sena after cabinet rejig

As the Narendra Modi government went in for a cabinet reshuffle, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Sunday said that the NDA is “almost dead” and that BJP remembers it only when it needs some support.

Though a long-time ally of the BJP, Sena has often been at loggerheads with the senior partner. Its lone member in the Union ministry is Heavy Industries Minister Anant Geete.

“BJP-led National Democratic Alliance exists only on paper. Whenever BJP wants some support like in Presidential election or in Parliament, we are remembered,” rued Raut.

“The NDA is almost dead. It is restricted to only meetings of allied parties,” Raut told reporters here.

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“We are not hungry for a portfolio or power. The reshuffle is a game of figures for political reasons and we will take the appropriate stand at a right time,” said Raut, a Rajya Sabha member.

Four junior ministers were today elevated to the cabinet rank and nine new faces, including four former government officers, inducted as Ministers of State, in a rejig by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a focus on his agenda on good governance.