Who is NCP's Jitendra Awhad, Maharashtra Assembly's new LoP
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) appointed Jitendra Awhad as the Maharashtra Assembly's Leader of Opposition (LoP) on Sunday. This came after former LoP Ajit Pawar became the deputy chief minister in CM Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) coalition government. Awhad said NCP supremo Sharad Pawar made the turncoats ministers, but they are now "deserting their leader in his twilight years."
Why does this story matter?
Sharad's faction sees his nephew Ajit and eight other NCP MLAs joining the Shinde-led government as a betrayal. In May, Sharad reportedly defused Ajit's plans to break away by announcing his resignation to hand over the party's reins to the next generation. However, after meeting with the leaders of his nephew's faction, he withdrew his resignation amid appeals by NCP workers.
3-time MLA, 2-time cabinet minister
Fifty-nine-year-old Awhad is a three-time MLA from Thane's Mumbra-Kalwa constituency. He served as Maharashtra's minister for medical education and horticulture in the 2014 government led by the BJP. He also served as the state housing minister under the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in 2019 before CM Shinde defected from the erstwhile Shiv Sena to form the current government with the BJP.
Awhad became NSUI's general secretary in 1991
Awhad gained popularity as a student activist while protesting against the tuition fee hike at Mumbai University in 1982. He joined the Congress's student wing, the National Students' Union of India (NSUI), and became the Maharashtra NSUI's chief secretary in 1988, the year Sharad returned as Maharashtra's CM. In 1991, he became all-India NSUI's general secretary and the Maharashtra Youth Congress's president in 1996.
Followed Sharad as NCP broke away from Congress
Reportedly, Awhad was greatly influenced by Sharad and followed the leader as he broke away from the Congress in 1999 to form the NCP. His loyalty to Sharad reportedly helped him be nominated as a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Council in 2004 and 2008.
Arrested in 2021 for allegedly kidnapping, thrashing engineer
In October 2021, Awhad was arrested and later released on bail for allegedly abducting an engineer for tweeting his morphed photo and objectionable content against his family and NCP leaders for two years. The engineer, Anant Karmuse, alleged that in early 2020, 10-15 men accompanied by two police constables abducted him from his residence, took him to Awhad's bungalow, and beat him up.
