Nationalist Congress Party's Ajit Pawar joined the Maharashtra government today. Ajit Pawar took oath as the Deputy Chief Minister. He will share the post with BJP's Devendra Fadnavis.
Ajit Pawar on Wednesday while speaking at the party event in Mumbai had said, "I was never interested in working as Leader of Opposition but accepted the role on demand of the party MLAs. Assign me any post in the party organisation and I will do complete justice to whatever responsibility given to me."
Here are the Highlights on Ajit Pawar's Switch:
Sharad Pawar's NCP to move disqualification notice against Ajit Pawar, 8 other rebel MLAs, who joined the Eknath Shinde-led government in Maharashtra.
On a day his party suffered a stunning blow with the departure of a slew of leaders led by his nephew Ajit Pawar, veteran politician Sharad Pawar barely betrayed any disquiet, even cracking up a roomful of journalists and supporters with a witty wisecrack.
Ajit Pawar, the nephew of Sharad Pawar, took oath as the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra on Sunday, for the third time since 2019. He sided with the BJP once again, weeks after his cousin Supriya Sule was announced the working president of the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
He said a majority of NCP MLAs, and the entire party, has decided to be in the alliance government of the BJP and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. According to sources in the Maharashtra political circle, he has the support of 40-plus MLAs. Read here
Sharad Pawar, deeply humiliated by his nephew's claim that the Nationalist Congress Party -- the party he founded and nurtured for over two decades -- is backing Ajit Pawar, today said the truth "will be out soon". "I have called a meeting of the party leaders tomorrow, and there we will discuss the issue," he told the media shortly after Ajit Pawar took oath as the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra. Read here
The long legal battle over the Shiv Sena split barely over, Maharashtra appears headed for another one -- this time in Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party. The NCP's Ajit Pawar, who took oath as Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister with eight MLAs today, will have some way to go to evade action in the assembly and the courts. Read here
"This is not a new thing. The party I was leading in 1980 had 58 MLAs, later all left and only 6 MLAs left, but I strengthened the numbers and those who left me lost in their constituencies," said Sharad Pawar on Ajit Pawar joining the NDA government in Maharashtra.
"Truth will be out soon," said Sharad Pawar after Ajit Pawar joined the Eknath shinde government and claimed "entire NCP" with him.
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)'s senior leader Ajit Pawar on Sunday joined Eknath Shinde-led government in Maharashtra and took oath as the deputy chief minister of the state. On the occasion, Mr Shinde said that the double-engine government has now become triple-engine.
"Now we have 1 Chief Minister and 2 Deputy Chief Ministers. The double-engine government has now become triple engine. For the development of Maharashtra, I welcome Ajit Pawar and his leaders. Ajit Pawar's experience will help strengthen Maharashtra," Mr Shinde said.
Pointers From Ajit Pawar's press conference:
* Whatever has been happening in the country and in the state, we saw that and decided that development should be made a priority.
* Today we took a decision and joined Shiv Sena and BJP government.
* Majority of MLAs and the entire party has decided to be in the government.
* There will be more cabinet expansion where others will be made ministers too.
* The Narendra Modi government is working for the last 9 years and they have been trying to take this country ahead. That's why we decided to support them.
"Ajit Pawar has joined us today. He is a good administrator and I had said he should come with us and he has come today. Maharashtra government will do good work," said Maharashtra minister Deepak Kesarkar.#WATCH | Ajit Pawar has joined us today. He is a good administrator and I had said he should come with us and he has come today. Maharashtra government will do good work: Maharashtra minister Deepak Kesarkar pic.twitter.com/id5EdNzbhU
- ANI (@ANI) July 2, 2023
"Now we have 1 Chief Minister and 2 Deputy Chief Ministers. The double-engine government has now become triple engine. For the development of Maharashtra, I welcome Ajit Pawar and his leaders. Ajit Pawar's experience will help," says Eknath Shinde
NCP leaders Chhagan Bhujbal, Dilip Walse Patil and Dhananjay Munde also took oath as Maharashtra Ministers. According to party sources, Ajit Pawar has the support of 43 out of the 53 NCP MLAs
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis are present at the Raj Bhavan, where an oath ceremony is to be held shortly
Maharashtra MLAs backing Ajit Pawar reach Raj Bhavan
- NDTV (@ndtv) July 2, 2023
Track latest developments on https://t.co/hMlRpgaRS6 pic.twitter.com/F61aEIwBjd