Mumbai: The Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is likely to get 11 seats in the Council of Ministers of the newly elected Mahayuti government. Among them, seven would be ministers and the remaining four would be junior ministers. This has put Ajit Pawar in trouble as he has to replace at least two senior leaders who sided with him during the split in the party last year and became state ministers.

“Our party had nine cabinet seats in the previous government, so we have to ask two seniors to take a break,” said an NCP insider.

The party leadership is keen to replace senior leaders who were part of the Council of Ministers for the past four years – including two-and-a-half years of the Mahayuti government and one-and-a-half years of the MVA government before that, NCP sources said. It is looking to replace Dilip Walse Patil, Minister of Cooperation in the previous government, with Dattray Bharne and Chhagan Bhujbal, Minister of Food and Civil Supplies in the previous government, with Manikrao Kokate. They are also keen to include fresh faces like Indraneel Naik, Sangram Jagtap, Sana Malik and Rajesh Vitekar in the Council of Ministers, for which some former junior ministers would have to be dropped, the sources added.

Both Walse Patil and Bharne are from the western Maharashtra region. Bharne, a Dhangar leader, was a minister in the previous Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government led by Uddhav Thackeray. In the recently held polls, he defeated NCP (SP) Harshvardhan Patil to become Indapur’s MLA.

Similarly, both Bhujbal and Kokate, a five-term MLA from Sinnar, hail from the north Maharashtra region. Bhujbal is prepared to step back but wants his son Pankaj Bhujbal to become a minister. Pankaj, a two-term MLA, is currently a member of the Legislative Council.

Those being considered for junior ministerial berths include Indraneel Naik, who sided with Ajit Pawar during the split in the party and was elected MLA from Pusad assembly constituency in Yavatmal district of Vidarbha for the second time in the recent polls. Naik belongs to the family of former chief minister Vasantrao Naik and Sudhakarrao Naik. The family has never lost the seat since 1952.

Sangram Jagtap, a Maratha leader, was elected from Ahmednagar City constituency in north Maharashtra for the third time in a row. His induction in the Council of Ministers would give additional representation to the region if Amalner MLA Anil Patil is also part of the Council this time.

Sana Malik, who won from the Anushakti Nagar constituency in Mumbai, may also be inducted into the Council of Ministers. She is the first Muslim woman MLA in Maharashtra and her inclusion will ensure representation for all major communities in the council.

Meanwhile, NCP working president Praful Patel is likely to get a seat in the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre. A six-term Rajya Sabha MP, Patel was elected unopposed for a six-year term in April this year. He is also a four term Lok Sabha MP.