Ajit Pawar takes oath as Deputy CM, 8 more NCP MLAs join Maharashtra govt

Besides Pawar, eight more MLAs took oath to join the Maharashtra government — Chhagan Bhujbal, Dilip Walse Patil, Hasan Mushrif, Dhananjay Munde, Dharmobaba Atram, Aditi Tatkare, Sanjay Bansode and Anil Patil.

By: Express Web Desk

New Delhi | Updated: July 5, 2023 04:54 PM IST

3 min read

Ajit Pawar takes oath as the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra. (Screenshot)

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Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar on Sunday was sworn-in as the Deputy chief minister of Maharashtra as he joined the Eknath Shinde-led government. He will be sharing the post with BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis.

Following his oath, Ajit Pawar, while addressing the media, said that his party decided to become part of the Eknath Shinde government for the development of the country, and praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership.

Maintaining that there was no split in NCP, he said they would contest all the future elections on the NCP’s name and symbol. All the elected representatives (of the party) have supported the decision to join the government, Pawar added.

Defending his decision to share power with the BJP, he said, “If we can go with the Shiv Sena, then we can go with the BJP as well. The same thing happened in Nagaland as well. Overall and comprehensive development was taken into account. We have a vast experience of the administration, we can utilise it for the good.”

A meeting of NCP leaders was called at the residence of Ajit Pawar earlier today, who, later along with other party leaders, reached the Raj Bhavan to meet Governor Ramesh Bais. Pawar was then administered oath as the second deputy chief minister of Maharashtra. Chief Minster Eknath Shinde was also present at the occasion.

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Pawar was said to be disgruntled after he was denied the opportunity to work as state unit chief of the Nationalist Congress Party. Earlier, he had offered to resign from the post of Leader of Opposition, seeking an organisational responsibility.

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In 2019, he had joined hands with BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis and had taken an oath as the state’s deputy chief minister along with Fadnavis as the chief minister. The rebellion, however, did not last for more than three days and Ajit Pawar returned to the NCP fold.

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