‘Such things happen when…’: Eknath Shinde’s first reaction to Ajit Pawar joining his government

New Delhi: Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Sunday said such things happen when a “deserving party worker” gets a “secondary role” after senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar was sworn in as Deputy Chief Minister. Talking to reporters, Shinde said that now the double engine government has a ‘triple engine’.

Eknath Shinde said of Sharad Pawar’s nephew Ajit Pawar, “The politics of development is supported by a man of development. When a deserving party worker gets a secondary role, such things happen.”

Shinde said, “Now the double engine government has a triple engine. The state will move fast (on the path of development). Now we have a CM and two deputy chief ministers. This will help in the rapid development of the state.”

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Ajit Pawar takes oath as deputy CM in Eknath Shinde-led government

Ajit Pawar on Sunday split in his uncle Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party and joined the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government as deputy chief minister.

Maharashtra Governor Ramesh Bais administered the oath of office to Ajit Pawar as deputy CM, while eight other NCP leaders took oath as ministers at a ceremony held at the Raj Bhavan. Chhagan Bhujbal, Dilip Walse Patil, Hasan Mushrif, Dhananjay Munde, Aditi Tatkare, Dharmarao Atram, Anil Patil and Sanjay Bansode are among those who took oath as ministers.

Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narvekar, who was present at Raj Bhavan, said that Ajit Pawar has resigned from the post of Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the lower house and he has accepted it.

Deputy Chairman Narhari Zirwal and NCP working president Praful Patel were also present at the Raj Bhavan.

Maharashtra BJP President Chandrashekhar Bawankule claimed that 40 NCP MLAs (out of a total of 53) have supported the state government.

The presence of NCP supremo Sharad Pawar and party’s working president Supriya Sule at the opposition meeting in Patna last month had reportedly angered Ajit Pawar and his supporters.

Elections to the 288-member state assembly are due next year.

There are four swearing-in ceremonies in four years in Maharashtra.

The swearing-in of Ajit Pawar as Deputy Chief Minister means that Maharashtra has seen four swearing-in ceremonies in the past as many years at its plush Raj Bhavan.

In November 2019, Devendra Fadnavis and NCP’s Ajit Pawar were sworn in as CM and Deputy CM respectively, in an early-morning ceremony at the Raj Bhavan, following the assembly elections and a split between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Shiv Sena. The government lasted only 80 hours as Pawar could not create a split in his party.

Within a month, Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray was sworn in as the CM after his party joined hands with the NCP and the Congress to form the Maha Vikas Aghadi government. Incidentally, Ajit Pawar, who came back to NCP, was the deputy CM in this government.

The MVA government fell in June last year after minister Eknath Shinde and 39 MLAs rebelled against Thackeray and split the Shiv Sena.

Shinde was sworn in as CM on June 30 with the support of the BJP. This time Fadnavis was made deputy CM.

Bhagat Singh Koshyari was the governor when the first three swearing-in ceremonies took place, but Sunday’s political developments come when Ramesh Bais is sitting on the governor’s chair.

Assembly elections in Maharashtra are likely to be held around October next year, a few months after the Lok Sabha elections.