Hyderabad: Shortly after taking oath as Deputy Chief Minister on Sunday afternoon at Raj Bhavan, Ajit Pawar changed his Twitter bio. It now reads Deputy Chief Minister, Maharashtra. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar left the party with at least 30 other MLAs to join the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government where he would share the Deputy CM post with BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis.
Meanwhile, nine other NCP leaders also joined the Maharashtra government today. According to sources, Ajit Pawar has the support of 43 out of the 53 NCP MLAs and his Sunday move effectively leaves NCP in tatters. Apart from Ajit Pawar, the NCP leaders, who took oath as Maharashtra ministers include Anil Patil, Chhagan Bhujbal and Aditi Tatkare. The leaders took oath at the Raj Bhavan in the presence of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis.
Also read: CM Shinde welcomes Ajit Pawar, says Maharashtra govt now 'triple engine'
Earlier in the day, Ajit Pawar met some party leaders and MLAs at his official residence in Mumbai. However, NCP president Sharad Pawar, who was in Pune, said he was unaware of the meeting. Senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal and the party's working president Supriya Sule were among the leaders present at the meeting held at Ajit Pawar's official residence 'Devgiri'. However, state party president Jayant Patil was not present.
Ajit Pawar took oath at the Raj Bhavan in south Mumbai in the presence of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Similarly, in 2019, Ajit Pawar changed his Twitter bio to 'Deputy Chief Minister, Maharashtra'. He also tweeted that he will work hard for the welfare of the people of Maharashtra.
