Maharashtra: NCP's Ajit Pawar joins Shinde government as deputy CM
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar, reportedly along with eight other party MLAs, was sworn in as Maharashtra's deputy chief minister on Sunday. He will share the post with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Devendra Fadnavis under CM Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena-BJP coalition government in the state. Pawar has the support of 43 out of 53 NCP MLAs, NDTV reported citing party sources.
Watch: Pawar takes oath as Maharashtra deputy CM
Pawar recently expressed desire to step down as LoP
Notably, Pawar's move comes days after he expressed his desire to step down as the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Maharashtra Assembly. Earlier on Sunday, a meeting was held at Pawar's Mumbai residence, which was attended by many NCP MLAs, NCP Working President Supriya Sule, and senior leader Chhagan Bhujbal. However, NCP Maharashtra chief, Jayant Patil, was reportedly absent from the meeting.
Didn't know about meeting: Sharad Pawar
Reportedly, NCP National President Sharad Pawar, who is in Pune, said he was unaware of the aforementioned meeting in Mumbai. "I do not know exactly why this meeting has been called but being the Leader of the Opposition, he (Pawar) has the right to call a meeting of MLAs. He does that regularly. I don't have much detail about this meeting," he stated.
Pawar was striving to become NCP's state president
Pawar, who does not have any party post in the NCP, made a failed bid to align with the BJP in 2019 and was even sworn in as Maharashtra's deputy chief minister. Although, despite his declining status within the party, he had been striving to secure the position of the NCP state president in order to revive his reputation.
