Quaid Najmi
In a surprising turn of events, Ajit Pawar, the Leader of Opposition, has reportedly split from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and taken the oath as Deputy Chief Minister in the ruling alliance of the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government.
This move comes under the leadership of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis.
Several senior leaders and MLAs including Chhagan Bhujbal, Dilip Walse-Patil, Hasan Mushrif, Dhananjay Munde, Dharmarao Baba Atram, Aditi Sunil Tatkare, Sanjay Bansode, and Anil Patil were also sworn in as ministers alongside Pawar this afternoon.
This is the third time in three years that Pawar has taken the oath as Deputy CM. The first instance was in 2019 under the then Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in a short-lived two-man regime that lasted for 80 hours.
The second instance was with ex-CM Uddhav Thackeray as part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi, and now, Pawar joins the Shiv Sena CM Shinde.
Another notable aspect of this development is the appointment of Aditi S. Tatkare, daughter of NCP MP Sunil Tatkare, as the first woman minister in the Shinde ministry, which came into office in June 2022.
In response to these developments, NCP President Sharad Pawar has conveyed that the party does not support the swearing-in ceremony and considers it an individual decision of those who have chosen to join Ajit Pawar’s group. The NCP has also claimed that 80 percent of those who joined Ajit Pawar will soon return to the NCP.
Sanjay Raut, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP and Chief Spokesperson, has alleged that many of the ministers sworn in today have pending enforcement inquiries against them. Raut stated, “All those whom the BJP had threatened to throw in jail have now been inducted as Ministers.”
Leaders from Shiv Sena and BJP have welcomed Ajit Pawar’s decision to join their government, viewing it as a strengthening of their alliance to provide a robust regime in the state. Chief Minister Shinde remarked that Pawar’s move will give a ‘triple-engine’ to the government and that the administration will progress at the speed of a Bullet Train for the state’s development.
Raut added that some individuals have taken it upon themselves to “clean up” Maharashtra politics, and they are entitled to their approach. He also mentioned that he spoke with Sharad Pawar, who expressed his determination to rebuild everything again with Uddhav Thackeray, emphasizing that the people will not tolerate this game for long.
The political upheaval unfolded during a routine meeting between Pawar and his supporting MLAs on a lazy Sunday morning. While the meeting was kept confidential, speculations circulated in political circles. However, within hours, the decision was made to abandon the NCP and join the Shinde-Fadnavis regime.
Following the meeting, Pawar, accompanied by several NCP heavyweights, visited Raj Bhavan to meet Governor Ramesh Bais and submitted a letter of support signed by approximately three-dozen MLAs. Shortly after, Chief Minister Shinde, Devendra Fadnavis, BJP State President Chandrashekhar Bawankule, and other senior leaders of the ruling alliance also visited Raj Bhavan.
As the state’s political landscape underwent a significant transformation by the afternoon, the possibility of more surprises cannot be ruled out. Sharad Pawar is expected to arrive in Mumbai this evening. (Edited)
Quaid Najmi can be contacted at: q.najmi@ians.in)