Mumbai: In a major jolt to NCP President Sharad Pawar, his nephew and party senior leader Ajit Pawar raised a banner of revolt and joined the BJP government led by Eknath Shinde. It seems Maharashtra politics are taking several twists and turns a la Bollywood potboiler for the past two years.
As Eknath Shinde's revolt is still afresh in the memory of people, while Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray was still unable to come to terms after the shock given by Eknath Shinde, who walked out of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance with 40 Shiv Sena MLAs. And the latest development of Ajit Pawar it seems has jolted the Maharashtra political landscape as leaders were shocked.
Before the D day, speculations were rife over Ajit Pawar leaving the party for quite some time. But, Ajit Pawar rubbished those rumours, however, Sharad Pawar resigned from the party chief's post in the past amid buzz over Ajit breaking the party. But, party leaders and workers exerted pressure on Pawar to take back his resignation.
Pawar assumed that nobody will break the NCP, including his nephew Ajit Pawar, but his confidence is short-lived, as Ajit splits the party and joined the ruling BJP government. And Ajit's move proved that the "blood is thicker than water", which means familial bonds, will always be stronger than other relationships is wrong, as of late, many leaders are ditching their kith and kin to be in power.
It may be recalled that the BJP, which has been trying to break the MVA government for the past two years, has succeeded with Eknath Shinde joining the BJP, along with 40 Shiv Sena MLAs and became the Chief Minister. They yet again succeeded in wooing Ajit Pawar as he, along with supporters, joined the Maharashtra government on Sunday.
Ajit Pawar took oath as the Deputy Chief Minister and he will share the post with BJP's Devendra Fadnavis. Out of 53 NCP MLAs, it is learnt that 30 are with Ajit Pawar. However, Ajit Pawar needs to have the support of more than 36 MLAs to escape the provisions of the anti-defection law.
Ajit Pawar, a key leader of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), who is the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, after meeting with Chief Minister Ekanth Shinde, met the Governor, along with nine of his supporters. Soon after, he was sworn in as Deputy Chief Minister. Along with him, Chhagan Bhujbal, Dilip Walse Patil, Dharmarao Atram, Sunil Valsade, Aditi Thackeray, Hasan Mushrif, Dhanunjay Munde and Anil Patil took oath as ministers.
Earlier, Ajit Pawar held a separate meeting with party MLAs and leaders at his residence in Devagiri. Many NCP leaders, including Sharad Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule, were present at the meeting. However, Supriya walked out of this meeting. Later, Ajit Pawar moved to Raj Bhavan.
It is noteworthy that this development took place a few days after Ajith announced that he intends to step down from the post of Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly.
