- Friday, February 28, 2025
Ajit Pawar recently joined the state government along with eight other lawmakers, leaving the Nationalist Congress Party led by his uncle Sharad Pawar split.
By: Shubham Ghosh
AJIT Pawar, the newly appointed deputy chief minister of the western Indian state of Maharashtra, who recently joined the state’s government led by chief minister Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on Tuesday (4) praised prime minister Narendra Modi saying there was no alternative to him.
Meanwhile, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which was in doldrums following Pawar’s move to join the government, was set to meet on Wednesday (5) in what is likely to be a show of strength post the split.
The NCP is a major player in Maharashtra politics and has been a member of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (Maharashtra Development Front) coalition government led by Uddhav Thackeray which collapsed last year following a revolt by Shinde and his loyalists in the original Shiv Sena which also got split.
During the separate conclaves held by the two rival factions of the NCP, it is expected that some clarity on the number of lawmakers in each camp will emerge. The party has 53 lawmakers in Maharashtra’s 288-member strong assembly and Ajit Pawar, nephew of party president Sharad Pawar, claims to have the backing of 40 of them.
Three days after switching over to the ruling camp from the opposition along with eight other NCP lawmakers, Ajit Pawar was effusive in his praise of Modi as he inaugurated his faction’s new office in south Mumbai.
“The country is marching ahead under his (Modi’s) leadership. We have joined the government to support him. There is no leader like Modi. There is no alternative to him,” he said.
The junior Pawar also indicated the allocation of portfolios for the new entrants in the state ministry may not be announced immediately. He attributed the delay to Eknath Shinde and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis leaving for Nagpur to welcome president Droupadi Murmu.
“We all have decided to work together. There is no question of disgruntlement,” he said, when asked if some members in the Shinde group are unhappy over his inclusion in the ministry.
Meanwhile, the legislative party of the Indian National Congress, the other party in the opposition, met on Tuesday but a PTI report said that it didn’t discuss the issue of the leader of the opposition in the state assembly. It cited a senior official leader who said the party was taking a “wait and watch” approach amid the state’s fast-paced political developments.
