NCP's Ajit Pawar sworn in as deputy CM in Eknath Shinde-led Maha govt

Mumbai: Marking a vertical split in the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), its senior leader Ajit Pawar joined the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government as deputy chief minister on Sunday.

The presence of NCP president Sharad Pawar and party's working president Supriya Sule at the Opposition meeting in Patna had irked Ajit Pawar and his supporters, sources said.

While Ajit Pawar was sworn in as the deputy chief minister by Governor Ramesh Bais at the ceremony held in the Raj Bhawan, eight other NCP leaders took oath as ministers.

Those who were sworn in as ministers are Chhagan Bhujbal, Dilip Walse Patil, Hasan Mushrif, Dhananjay Munde, Aditi Tatkare, Dharmarao Atram, Anil Patil and Sanjay Bansode.

Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar, who was present in the Raj Bhawan, said Ajit Pawar has resigned as the leader of opposition (LoP) in the Lower House and he has accepted it. Deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal and NCP working president Praful Patel were also present in the Raj Bhawan.

Maharashtra BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule claimed 40 MLAs of NCP (out of the total 53) have supported the state government.

Elections to the 288-member state Assembly are due next year. The political development comes a year after a revolt led by Shinde against the Shiv Sena (then undivided) led to the collapse of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.

On June 30, 2022, Shinde sworn in as the CM with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Devendra Fadnavis as the deputy CM.

BJP's Mumbai unit president and former state minister Ashish Shelar said, "CM Eknath Shinde gave support to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to save Hindutva. Today, NCP's major faction led by Ajit Pawar is joining the Shinde and Fadnavis government in a democratic way and extending support to Modiji."

Sharad Pawar unaware of the meeting

Earlier in the day, Ajit Pawar met some party leaders and MLAs at his official residence 'Devgiri' in Mumbai.

Senior NCP leader Bhujbal and party's working president Supriya Sule were among the leaders present at the meeting. However, Sule left the meeting early. NCP president Sharad Pawar, who was in Pune, said he was unaware of the meeting.

Maha sees four oath-taking ceremonies since 2019

Maharashtra has seen four oath-taking ceremonies in as many years at its stately Raj Bhavan.

In November 2019, after the Assembly polls and the split between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Shiv Sena, Devendra Fadnavis and NCP's Ajit Pawar were sworn in as CM and Deputy CM, respectively in Raj Bhavan.

The government lasted just 80 hours as Pawar was unable to cause a split in his party. Within a month, Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray was sworn in as CM after his party joined hands with the NCP and Congress to form the Maha Vikas Agahdi government. Incidentally, Ajit Pawar, who had returned to the NCP, was the deputy CM in this government.

The MVA government fell in June last year after minister Eknath Shinde and 39 MLAs revolted against Thackeray and split the Shiv Sena.

Shinde was sworn in as CM on June 30 with the support of the BJP. This time, Fadnavis as made deputy CM.

While Bhagat Singh Koshyari was the governor when the first three oath-taking ceremonies took place, Saturday's political developments have come when Ramesh Bais is occupying the gubernatorial chair.

Assembly polls in Maharashtra are likely to be held around October next year, some months after the Lok Sabha elections.

Inputs from PTI