Ajit stuns Pawar

Mumbai/New Delhi: In a surprising turn of events, nine Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLAs, including senior leader Ajit Pawar, have taken oath as ministers in the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government.

Ajit Pawar was sworn in as the Deputy Chief Minister. This is the third time in four years that Ajit Pawar has taken oath as state's Deputy CM.

Shortly after taking oath, newly appointed Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar said, "Today, we have decided to support the Maharashtra government and took oath as ministers. There will be a discussion on the portfolios later. Considering all aspects at the national level, we thought that we should support development."

"The country is progressing under the leadership of PM Modi. He is also popular in other countries. Everyone supports him and appreciates his leadership. We will fight the upcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly elections with them (BJP) and that is why we have taken this decision," Pawar added.

Party sources said Ajit Pawar has the backing of more than 40 MLAs in Vidhan Sabha and more than 6 MLCs in Vidhan Parishad.

"Several people will criticise now a bit. We don't give value to that and we will keep working for the progress of Maharashtra and that is why we have taken this decision. Most of our MLAs are satisfied with this. We have supported this govt with NCP. We will contest all elections in the name of NCP only," he said.

The Nationalist Congress Party appointed Jitendra Awhad as Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly after incumbent LoP Ajit Pawar joined the Eknath Shinde government as Deputy CM on Sunday. Awhad said NCP state unit president Jayant Patil had appointed him as chief whip of the party and LoP in the Assembly.

"All the MLAs will have to abide my whip," he asserted in an apparent reference to defection and disqualification angles that are bound to come up in connection with Sunday's developments brought about by a vertical split in the NCP.

Queried on ED and CBI probes against some NCP leaders and its role in them switching sides, Awhad said, "I don't see any other reason behind these leaders deciding to join the state government. There was no need to do such a thing."

This political development comes a year after a revolt led by Shinde against Shiv Sena (then undivided) led to the collapse of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government. On June 30, 2022, Shinde was sworn in as the CM with BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis as his deputy.

Credit goes to Modi: Pawar

Meanwhile, NCP chief Sharad Pawar said he will never say that his home has been split. "This issue is not regarding my home, this is the issue of people. I am worried about the future of those who left.

I want to give the credit for this to PM Modi. Two days ago, he had made statements (on corruption) and after that statement, some people started feeling uneasy, some of them were also facing ED actions," he added. "From this (joining the NDA government), it is clear that all the charges have been cleared (against the MLAs who joined)," said Pawar.

In his first reaction, Sharad Pawar said: "This is not a new thing. The party I was leading in 1980 had 58 MLAs, later all left and only 6 MLAs were left, but I strengthened the numbers and those who left me lost in their constituencies."

"I am receiving several calls from a lot of people, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, WB CM Mamata Banerjee and others have called me. I am not worried about whatever happened today. Tomorrow, I will take the blessings of YB Chavan (former Maharashtra CM) and will hold a public meeting," he said.

"I had called a meeting of all the leaders on July 6 where some important issue was to be discussed and some changes were to be made within the party but before that meeting, some of the leaders have taken a different stand ...," said Pawar.

"In the next two-three days, we will sit with Congress and Uddhav Thackeray to assess the situation," said the NCP supremo. He added that the NCP MLAs and all senior leaders will sit together to decide about any action against the rebel leaders. "Being the president, I had appointed Praful Patel and Sunil Tatkare but they did not follow their responsibilities. Therefore, I have to take some action against them," he said.