New Delhi (Agency): A remarkable shift in the political dynamics of Maharashtra unfolded as Ajit Pawar, the senior leader of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), assumed the role of Deputy Chief Minister in the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government on Sunday. This event transpired amid a notable divide within the NCP, elicited by the participation of party president Sharad Pawar and working president Supriya Sule in the Opposition meeting in Patna.
Pawar was inaugurated as the Deputy Chief Minister by Governor Ramesh Bais in a ceremony at the Raj Bhawan, along with eight other NCP leaders who assumed their ministerial roles. The newly inducted ministers include Chhagan Bhujbal, Dilip Walse Patil, Hasan Mushrif, Dhananjay Munde, Aditi Tatkare, Dharmarao Atram, Anil Patil, and Sanjay Bansode.
During the event, Rahul Narwekar, the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker, confirmed that he had accepted Ajit Pawar’s resignation as the leader of opposition in the Lower House. Deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal and NCP working president Praful Patel were also present at the ceremony.
State BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule stated that forty of the fifty-three NCP MLAs are supporting the current government. This political development has emerged as the Assembly elections, which involve 288 seats, approach next year.
The current political scene was set into motion last year when Shinde led a revolt against the undivided Shiv Sena, resulting in the collapse of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government. Consequently, Shinde assumed the Chief Minister’s role with BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis as the deputy, after being sworn in on June 30, 2022.
Ashish Shelar, BJP’s Mumbai unit president and former state minister, noted that Ajit Pawar and his NCP faction’s decision to join Shinde’s government aligns with their support for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Earlier that day, Ajit Pawar held a meeting with several party leaders at his official residence in Mumbai, ‘Devgiri’.
Sharad Pawar, the NCP president who was in Pune at the time, claimed unawareness of this meeting. This event marks another dramatic chapter in Maharashtra’s political narrative since the 2019 Assembly elections when the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena severed ties with its long-standing ally, BJP. The subsequent government, formed by Thackeray in alliance with NCP and Congress, was short-lived due to the Shinde-led revolt that caused a split in the Shiv Sena.
