Mumbai, May 3 -- The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has decided to offer a Rajya Sabha berth to senior party leader and state food and civil supplies minister Chhagan Bhujbal, who had in the past expressed a desire to move to Delhi as a Parliamentarian. In case Bhujbal, a prominent Other Backward Class (OBC) leader, takes up the offer, his political heir or nominee will not get the ministerial berth in the state government in his place, the NCP top brass has clarified. The food and civil supplies minister has not responded to the offer yet. Bhujbal, 78, a seven-term legislator, held the position of the deputy chief minister in the Congress-NCP government in 2009-10. Considered a loyalist of NCP founder Sharad Pawar, he surprised everyone in 2023 when he joined the faction led by Ajit Pawar, who engineered a split in the NCP and joined hands with the ruling BJP-led Mahayuti coalition. Though Bhujbal was made a minister in the earlier Mahayuti government, he was not inducted into the cabinet after the coalition was voted back to power in 2024 as Ajit Pawar preferred Dhananjay Munde, another OBC leader as a minister. Bhujbal then expressed his desire to shift to national politics by joining the Rajya Sabha, which was turned down by Ajit Pawar. Later, after Munde resigned as minister following the arrest of his close aide Walmik Karad in connection with the murder of a sarpanch in Beed district, Bhujbal was named the food and civil supplies minister. NCP insiders said that the decision to offer a Rajya Sabha berth to Bhujbal was taken during a meeting of the party's core committee at Devgiri, the official residence of deputy chief minister Sunetra Pawar. While the meeting, held on April 29, focussed on nominees for the upcoming legislative council poll, it was decided that the Rajya Sabha berth that would be vacated by Suntera Pawar once she was declared winner in the Baramati assembly bypoll would be offered to Bhujbal, and he would not be allowed to nominate someone to take over his ministerial berth. The offer has placed Bhujbal in a bind as he is keen to bring in his nephew and former Parliamentarian Sameer Bhujbal in his place, sources said. The veteran leader had planned to field Sameer from the Yeola assembly constituency in the upcoming bypoll and had requested the NCP leadership to hand over his ministerial position to his nephew, the sources said. Speaking to Hindustan Times, Bhujbal denied having any knowledge about a Rajya Sabha berth being offered to him. "I am not aware if the party has taken any decision about the Rajya Sabha," he said. NCP president and deputy chief minister Sunetra Pawar is likely to resign from the Rajya Sabha after May 4, when the results of the Baramati bypolls will be announced. Most major parties had refrained from fielding candidates against Pawar, paving the way for her unopposed victory. NCP leaders said that in case Bhujbal took up the offer, the cabinet berth vacated by him would be offered to Munde, who has been trying hard to make a comeback in the state cabinet. "The party top brass is of the view that Munde has been out of the state cabinet despite having no direct links with the Beed sarpanch murder case. If Bhujbal vacates the cabinet berth, Munde would be the obvious choice of the party as replacement," a senior leader said, requesting anonymity. Meanwhile, people close to Bhujbal said that his nephew Sameer has become very active in the Yeola constituency and has been reaching out to people on a daily basis. Appointed Mumbai unit chief of the NCP in 2023, he resigned from the post ahead of the 2024 assembly polls and contested from Nandgaon as an independent. He was defeated by the sitting MLA Suhas Kande....