Ajit Pawar And Nine Other NCP Leaders Take Oath As Ministers In Shinde-Fadnavis Government

Mumbai 2nd July 2023: In yet another major political development reported in Maharashtra, senior Nationalist Congress Party(NCP) leader Ajit Pawar and other party leaders joined the Shinde-Fadnavis government by taking oath as ministers at Raj Bhavan in Mumbai on Sunday. Ajit Pawar took oath as the Deputy Chief Minister while eight other NCP leaders were also given oath as ministers.

Those who joined the Shinde-Fadnavis government include close associates of NCP chief Sharad Pawar such as Dilip Walse Patil, Chhagan Bhujbal, Sunil Tatkare’s daughter Aditi Tatkare. The eight other ministers who were given oath include Chhagan Bhujbal, Dilip Walse Patil, Aditi Tatkare, Hasan Mushrif, Dhananjay Munde, Dhamraobaba Atram, Sanjay Bansode and Anil Patil.

According to reports, at least over 30 MLAs of NCP are with Ajit Pawar. However, things were not clear whether they joined the government as NCP leaders or independent MLAs as there was no official statement by the party chief Sharad Pawar. Maharashtra President of NCP Jayant Patil was also not seen in the list of NCP leaders who joined Ajit Pawar faction.

Meanwhile Shivsena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray leader Sanjay Raut tweeted that Sharad Pawar is not supporting the revolt. According to reports, Ajit Pawar has been upset with the party leadership for the last few days over selection of party state president. He was trying hard to get the party state chief post.

This is the third major development in Maharashtra politics after the general assembly elections held in 2017. Ajit Pawar was given oath as Deputy Chief Minister for the third time after the last assembly election held in the state.