Mumbai: In a huge political upheaval, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar, who was the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Maharashtra Assembly, joined hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and took oath as the new deputy chief minister of the state on Sunday.
Rumoured to be unhappy after being denied the post of party’s state unit chief, Ajit Pawar along with Sharad Pawar loyalists like former Chhagan Bhujbal, Dilip Waalse Patil, and Hassan Mushrif reached the Raj Bhawan, shortly after calling an urgent meeting at his official residence ‘Devgiri’ in Mumbai, which was reportedly attended by almost 30 to 40 MLAs of total 54 attended NCP lawmakers.
Chief Minister Eknath Shinde too reached the Raj Bhawan. Ajit Pawar took the oath as the second deputy chief minister of the state. The other NCP leaders inducted in the cabinet include Chhagan Bhujbal, Dilip Waalse Patil, Hassan Mushrif, Dhananjay Munde, Aditi Tatkare, Sanjay Bansode, Dharamraobaba Atram, and Anil Bhaidas Patil.
Interestingly, this was the fourth oath-taking ceremony in Maharashtra in less than 3 years.
Earlier, Ajit Pawar had offered to resign from the post of Leader of Opposition, seeking an organisational responsibility. The party discussed the matter on Wednesday at the national executive of the party in Delhi and the final decision was expected in two months.
According to an ANI report quoting sources, MLAs accompanying Ajit Pawar to Raj Bhawan were upset with NCP supremo Sharad Pawar’s ‘unilateral’ decision to share the stage and ally with Rahul Gandhi at the opposition unity meet in Bihar’s Patna last month.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut will hold a press conference at 4 pm and is likely to address the shocking Ajit Pawar-Sharad Pawar breakup and the former’s induction in Maharashtra government. “I am strong. We have the support of the people. We will rebuild everything again with Uddhav Thackeray,” Raut quoted Sharad Pawar as saying in his reaction to his nephew Ajit’s rebellion.
