Ajit Pawar Powerful Leadership Takes Charge as Maharashtra’s Deputy Chief Minister with Strong Backing from Eight NCP Legislators in Political Reshuffle
Ajit Pawar will share the position of Deputy Chief Minister with Devendra Fadnavis of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Ajit Pawar, a leader of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), along with eight other NCP legislators, joined the Maharashtra government today. Mr. Pawar will share the position of Deputy Chief Minister with Devendra Fadnavis of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Ajit Pawar, Chhagan Bhujbal, Dilip Walse Patil, Aditi Tatkare, Dhananjay Munde, Hasan Mushrif, Dharma Raj Babarav Atram, Sanjay Bansode, and Anil Bhaidas Patil took the oath today, marking a significant swearing-in ceremony in Maharashtra after several years.
Ajit Pawar to Share Position of Deputy Chief Minister with Devendra Fadnavis
Welcoming Ajit Pawar, the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Eknath Shinde, said, “Now we have one Chief Minister and two Deputy Chief Ministers. The double-engine government has now become a triple-engine government. I welcome Ajit Pawar and his family, whose experience will help in the development of Maharashtra.”
According to sources, Ajit Pawar has the support of 43 out of 53 NCP legislators.
This step comes just a few days after Sharad Pawar publicly expressed his desire to step down from the position of Opposition leader in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly.
Earlier today, a group of RashtraVadi Congress legislators met Ajit Pawar at his residence in Mumbai, where the party’s executive president Supriya Sule and senior leader Chhagan Bhujbal were also present. The state party president, Jayant Patil, was not present at the meeting. Meanwhile, Sharad Pawar said to journalists in Pune that he was not aware of this meeting in Mumbai.
“I don’t know why this meeting was called, but as the leader of the opposition, Ajit Pawar has the right to call a meeting of legislators. He does it regularly. I don’t have much information about this meeting,” said Mr. Pawar.
This reshuffling in the NCP comes a month after Sharad Pawar resigned as the party’s chief and then reversed the decision three days later, stating that he “cannot disrespect the sentiments of the people.” Ajit Pawar, who had made an unsuccessful attempt to form an alliance with the BJP in 2019 and had taken oath as Deputy Chief Minister in a morning ceremony, was trying to revive his dwindling stature in the party by aspiring for the position of state president.
However, he currently does not hold any position in the party, as Supriya Sule and party leader Praful Patel were appointed as executive president and working president, respectively, on June 10th.
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