Mumbai:
A year after he stormed out of a meeting over not being made Deputy Chief Minister, Ajit Pawar has won his prize. (
Read: Who is Ajit Pawar)
Ajit, whose uncle, Sharad, heads the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), has replaced Chaggan Bhujbal as the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra.
The State's politics saw a revolving-door morning as Prithviraj Chavan entered as the new Chief Minister - he was hand-picked by Sonia Gandhi, 24 hours after she accepted the resignation of Ashok Chavan, who is mired in corruption allegations.
The NCP and Congress jointly form the government in Maharashtra.
It was a day filled with complex calculations for Bhujbal - but in the end, he was out-manoeuvred. In the morning, before this party's MLAs met in Mumbai, Bhujbal stressed that "I am deputy chief minister...and I want to stay deputy chief minister."
But once that meeting began, Bhujbal knew he had lost. Close to 50 of the party's 60 MLAs expressed their support for Ajit Pawar.
Forced to quit while he was behind, it was Bhujbal who finally proposed Ajit's name for the post he was being forced to vacate.
Later, he showed the sort of diplomacy that good politicians are blessed with. ''Do I look upset?" he asked reporters.
"I am absolutely fine.'' NCP sources say the party may move Bhujbal into a more national role.
That will suit Ajit just fine. Once considered Sharad Pawar's political heir, he was sidelined by the political rise and acumen of Sharad's daughter, Supriya Sule.
Then, last year, this party opted for Bhujbal as Deputy Chief Minister.
This is his chance to create some space of his own within the NCP. Considered an experienced and efficient administrator, he is also known to be short-tempered.
Unlike Bhujbal, who is an OBC leader, Pawar is a Maratha, like the new chief minister. Both men are also from the same region = Western Maharashtra.
The sameness, some say, could limit the coalition's appeal.