Regd. No. MH/MR/South-160/2012-14 RNI Regn. No. 43675/1985 MUMBAI MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2014 32 PAGES `3 Website: www.afternoondc.in
Aft er oo
HAS BJP TAKEN UDDHAV FOR A RIDE?
Gold: `26,100 Silver: `36,500 US Dollar: `61.41 Temperature: 340C/250C Humidity: 26%
Business&Investment Pg13-20
By Prashant Hamine
H
ow else can one explain it? Suresh Prabhu is in Delhi as a Shiv Sena leader. And the BJP springs a big surprise: On the day of swearing-in of ministers (yesterday), he quits the Sena, joins the BJP and is inducted as a Cabinet Minister. All the time, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray had no clue about this. It was a surprise the BJP sprung on him. And yesterday, Shiv Sena leader Anil Desai left Mumbai by plane to Delhi. He landed there just an hour before the swearing-in ceremony. He did not go to Raj Bhavan. He sat at the airport and he was advised by his chief to return by the next plane. The BJP must have made all its plans and as per them, carried out the secret operation. Even as Uddhav Thackeray was bargaining with the party heads, making stiff conditions for his support, the BJP must have got its plan ready. All along the BJP, apparently playing a game with him, never once was serious about giving an inch of space. Meanwhile, Uddhav Thackeray
wanted the BJP to spell out its stance on whether it will take the support of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) by the trust vote on November 12 or else, he said, the Sena will sit in the opposition benches. Addressing a crowded press conference at Sena Bhavan, he clarified that the Sena was not hungry for power. Sources disclosed that the talks between the Sena-BJP leadership broke down over allocation of union cabinet berths for Sena. Meanwhile Uddhav announced the name of senior Sena MLA Eknath Shinde from Thane as the party's legislature wing leader. Speaking to newspersons at state BJP headquarters, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis expressed regret over the Sena move asking Anil Desai to return back to Mumbai instead of taking oath. He said that the name of Anil Desai was sent to Rashtrapati Bhavan after due approval from the Sena. Fadnavis added that when Prime Minister Narendra Modi had decided to include one Sena minister in his cabinet the Sena should have shown Continued on pg 6 ÂŤ
Azad Shrivastav | ADC
Uddhav asks Anil Desai to return, says it would have been laughable for the Sena to have accepted the union cabinet berth while the BJP here were to take the support of the NCP
Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray and senior leader Manohar Joshi addressing a press conference at Sena Bhavan, on Sunday.
Suresh Prabhu returns to the Cabinet N
President Pranab Mukherjee shakes hands with the new Cabinet minister Suresh Prabhu after administering him oath of office at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on Sunday.
EW DELHI: A qualified Chartered Accountant, former Shiv Sena leader Suresh Prabhu on Sunday formally joined the BJP before being sworn in as Cabinet Minister in the first expansion of the Narendra Modi government. Prabhu, who was Power Minister in the Atal Behari Vajpayee-led previous NDA government, received the party's primary membership in the morning and was welcomed by senior party leaders. Prabhu returns to the Union Cabinet after having served in the Atal Behari Vajpayee government during when he won kudos for imparting a new dynamism to the functioning of the Power Ministry.
That the 61-year-old bankerpolitician from coastal Konkan was in good books of the Narendra Modi regime became evident after he was appointed head of a government panel on power revamp called Advisory Group for Integrated Development of Power, Coal and Renewable Energy. Prabhu was also appointed as Modi's 'sherpa' to assist the Prime Minister at the upcoming G20 summit in Brisbane, reports PTI. There were reports in Maharashtra political circles that Modi wanted him at the Centre despite
the logjam in ties between the two former allies Shiv Sena and BJP ahead of last month's Assembly elections in Maharashtra. Prabhu's decision to call of his visit to Wharton School as a mark of protest against the cancellation of Modi's keynote address at the Wharton India Economic Forum 2013 won him admirers. During Vajpayee's tenure from 1998 to 2004, Prabhu was Industry Minister, Minister of Environment and Forests, Minister of Fertilizers & Chemicals, Power, Heavy Industry and Public Enterprises.
21 new faces inducted into Union Cabinet...Pg.12