Anant Geete, Shiv Sena’s lone member in the Union Cabinet, on Wednesday said he would not resign as Heavy Industries Minister after his party decided to continue in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) despite parting ways with the BJP for the Maharashtra Assembly poll, after a 25-year-old alliance.
Asked whether he would resign, Mr. Geete said, “Certainly not.”
“It [the alliance] will remain intact at the Centre,” he added.
Mr. Geete, who is the Union Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises Minister, was speaking to reporters here at the launch of the cleanliness drive for the Swachh Bharat Mission.
He said he had spoken to party chief Uddhav Thackeray and “there is no question of resigning.”
“We are a part of the NDA. The government is of NDA and the Shiv Sena has a significant contribution in the [formation of] the NDA government.”
He said 42 MPs had been elected from Maharashtra. “The Shiv Sena has a contribution in that. That is why the question of resigning does not arise,” Mr. Geete.
Buoyed by the Lok Sabha results in which the BJP-Sena alliance won 42 of the 48 seats, the BJP demanded 135 Assembly seats which the Sena was not willing to give. Sena said it would give only 119 seats but later agreed to concede a few more seats.
On the possibility of a post-poll alliance between the Sena and the BJP in Maharashtra, Mr. Geete said: “It will not be appropriate to talk about the future. But everything is possible in politics.”
