NCP crisis : Ajit Pawar made Deputy CM

Recent developments

In a shocking turn of events, NCP Leader Ajit Pawar took oath as Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra at Raj Bhavan, sharing the post with the BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis. Besides Pawar, several other NCP leaders, including NCP supremo Sharad Pawar’s close confidant Dilip Walse Patil, Chhagan Bhujbal, Hasan Mushrif, Dhananjay Munde, Dharmobaba Atram, Aditi Tatkare, Sanjay Bansode, and Anil Patil, have also taken oath in the newly formed Shiv Sena-BJP-Pawar Government. 

Earlier, a meeting of NCP leaders, including Chhagan Bhujbal and the party’s working president, Supriya Sule, was held at the residence of Ajit Pawar, ‘Devgiri’. However, Sule left the meeting early, and later, Pawar, along with the other party leaders, reached the Raj Bhavan to meet Governor Ramesh Bats. Ajit Pawar then took the oath as the second deputy chief minister of Maharashtra along with Devendra Fadnavis.

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis were also present at the occasion. 

Possible reason for the split

Sources suggest that Ajit Pawar was disheartened after being denied the opportunity to serve as the state president of the Nationalist Congress Party. 

Ajit Pawar said on Wednesday, while speaking at a party event in Mumbai, that he was never interested in the position of Leader of Opposition but accepted it due to the demands of the party MLAs, further stating that his commitment to fulfilling any responsibility assigned to him.

Ajit Pawar’s response on criticism

After the oath-taking ceremony, Pawar was quoted saying that he expects hat several people will criticise this move, but he won’t pay any heed to it and instead focus on the development of Maharashtra.. Further reiterating that most of NCP‘s MLAs were satisfied with this decision and that the government was supported by the NCP Party as a whole.

In the press conference following the oath-taking ceremony, Ajit Pawar stated that the MLAs would be contesting in the forthcoming elections under the NCP name and symbol and that they had the support and blessing of everyone in the party.

The swearing-in of Ajit Pawar and his colleagues was the fourth oath-taking ceremony in Maharashtra in as many years as its stately Raj Bhavan. 

Elections for the State Assembly are due next year; this development comes a year after a rebellion led by Shiv Sena leader and nominated CM Eknath Shinde against the Shiv Sena which led to the dissolution of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government and the appointment of Eknath Shinde as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra.

Reactions from leaders

Eknath Shinde welcomed Ajit Pawar and other leaders of the NCP into his government, stating that the government now has one chief minister and two deputy chief ministers and that the previous double-engine government has now become triple-engine, further stating that Ajit Pawar’s experience will help strengthen Maharashtra.

Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar, who was present at the Taj Bhawan, stated that Ajit Pawar had resigned as the Leader of the Opposition in the Lower House and he had accepted the resignation.

Maharashtra BJP President Chandrashekhar Bawankule claimed 40 out of 53 NCP MLAs have lent their support to the state government. 

While BJP Mumbai unit president Ashish Shelar stated that similar to CM Eknath Shinde, NCP, led by Ajit Pawar democratically gave support to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to save Hindutva by joining the Shinde-Fadnavis faction.

Meanwhile, sources close to Sharad Pawar have stated that Sharad Pawar is not supporting Ajit Pawar and is disheartened by the recent turn of events.

Shiv Sena Leader Sanjay Raut stated that NCP Chief Sharad Pawar was undeterred by the split in the party and would start afresh.

While NCP supremo Sharad Pawar said that this is not a new thing as in the 1980s the party had 58 MLAs who later left and only 6 were left, he strengthened the numbers and those who had left him lost in their constituencies while indicating that the truth will be out soon after Eknath Shinde claimed the entire NCP was with the government.

This comes as a big surprise, as the BJP has broken the Maharashtra Big Opposition Front again after the dissolution of MVA last year. Sharad Pawar, who was credited with the creation of MVA, is faced with huge embarrassment as his nephew and NCP leader Ajit Pawar threatens to decimate the party he founded and has led over the past 24 years.

 Previous instance

In 2019, he joined hands with BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis and took 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 Pawar returned to the NCP faction, thus dissolving the government.