Ajit Pawar, the leader of the Nationalist Congress Party, took the oath of office to become the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra on July 2. Before that, NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal takes his oath of office as a Maharashtra minister in the presence of CM Eknath Shinde and deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis. Mr Pawar arrived at Raj Bhawan earlier with 9 MLAs. Mr Pawar now serves in Maharashtra’s NDA government as a result.
Ajit Pawar with Devendra Fadnavis
Image Source: Hindustan Times
Regarding Ajit Pawar joining the NDA government, Maharashtra Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said, “More than 40 MLAs are extending support to the government. Almost the entire NCP will be joining. CM Eknath Shinde will decide Ajit Pawar’s post. He will distribute the portfolios. The oath-taking ceremony will begin in 5 minutes.”
NCP leaders Chhagan Bhujbal, Dilip Walse Patil and Praful Patel also took oath as Maharashtra Ministers. According to party sources, Ajit Pawar has the support of 43 out of the 53 NCP MLAs.
Sharad Pawar’s Next Move:
Earlier today, a group of NCP legislators met at Ajit Pawar’s Mumbai residence, where the party’s working president Supriya Sule and senior leader Chhagan Bhujbal were also in attendance. State party president Jayant Patil was not present in the meeting. Meanwhile, Sharad Pawar told reporters in Pune that he was unaware of the meeting in Mumbai.
Image Source: Mid-Day
“I do not know exactly why this meeting has been called but being the leader of the Opposition, he (Ajit Pawar) has the right to call a meeting of MLAs. He does that regularly. I don’t have much detail about this meeting,” Mr Pawar said.
The churn in the NCP comes a month after Sharad Pawar had resigned as party chief and then decided to take it back three days later as he “couldn’t disrespect the feelings of the masses”.
However, it seems that Sharad Pawar will attend the opposition meeting, which is to take place in Bengaluru on July 13th and 14th.
Sena Reacts:
Talking about Sharad Pawar’s reaction to his nephew Ajit’s rebellion, Sanjay Raut quoted the NCP chief who said, “I am strong. We have the support of the people. We will rebuild everything again with Uddhav Thackeray.”
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