Political Upheaval in Maharashtra as Ajit Pawar Joins CM Shinde’s Cabinet as Dy CM

Mumbai: In a significant political development, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar made a surprise move on Sunday by accompanying 29 party MLAs, including Hassan Musharraf and Chhagan Bhujbal, to Raj Bhawan and joining the Maharashtra government led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

Despite serving as the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Maharashtra Assembly, Pawar took the oath as the Deputy Chief Minister in Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s cabinet.

The role of Maharashtra’s Deputy CM will be shared by Pawar and Devendra Fadnavis from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Additionally, eight fellow NCP members were also sworn in as Ministers in Maharashtra.

Earlier today, Ajit Pawar held a meeting with party leaders and MLAs at his official residence, ‘Devgiri,’ in Mumbai.

Notable attendees at the meeting included senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal and the party’s working president, Supriya Sule. Sharad Pawar, the president of the NCP, was unaware of the gathering as he was in Pune.