On Monday, the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Eknath Shinde stated that Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar joined the government to contribute to the state’s development and to express his faith in the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
According to Eknath Shinde , both he and Ajit Pawa are aligned in their objectives and working towards common goals. It’s worth noting that last year, Shinde played a leading role in a rebellion against the undivided Shiv Sena leadership, which resulted in the collapse of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government led by Uddhav Thackeray.
On Sunday, Ajit Pawar orchestrated a vertical split within the NCP, leading to his appointment as the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra. Along with him, eight other NCP MLAs, including Chhagan Bhujbal, Hasan Mushrif, Dhananjay Munde, Dilip Walse Patil, Dharmarao Baba Atram, Aditi Tatkare, Anil Patil, and Sanjay Bansode, were sworn in as ministers in the Shinde cabinet.
Earlier in the day, Ajit Pawar asserted that he became the Deputy CM with the support of a majority of NCP MLAs. He stated that their actions were in the interest of the party and they aim to further strengthen it.
However, in response to these developments, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar took disciplinary action against some party members. He expelled Praful Patel and Sunil Tatkare from the party for engaging in anti-party activities. Patel held the position of national working president of the party, and Tatkare was NCP’s national general secretary.
Sharad Pawar’s official statement stated that the support extended to Ajit Pawar and the eight other ministers, despite the party’s directives and mandates, amounted to anti-party activities and consequently, Praful Patel and Sunil Tatkare were deemed to have voluntarily left the NCP.
Additionally, the Pawar-led party also sacked three more party leaders – divisional NCP chief Narendra Rathod, Akola city district chief Vijay Deshmukh, and state minister Shivajirao Garje – for attending the oath-taking ceremony of Ajit Pawar as Maharashtra’s Deputy Chief Minister.
