The month-long political impasse ended dramatically with Devendra Fadnavis returning as the Chief Minister, backed by the Sharad Pawar-led NCP.
NCP leader Ajit Pawar was sworn-in as the Deputy Chief Minister at Raj Bhavan. BJP has 105 MLAs and NCP 54 in the 288-member Legislative Assembly election.
Rajendra Shingne, the NCP MLA who was present at the early-morning swearing-in ceremony, where BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis was sworn in as the Chief Minister of the State, claimed he was not aware of the developments.
“We were called at Dhananjay Munde bungalow by Ajit Pawar today morning. We were asked to come with him to Raj Bhavan and the swearing-in ceremony started. We were hurt. I have no intention to betray Sharad Pawar,” Mr. Shingne said. NCP MLAs Sandeep Kshirsagar and Sunil Bhusara too said they were with Mr. Sharad Pawar.
Dhananjay Munde is an NCP leader and an MLA from Parli constituency. He is the nephew of the late veteran BJP leader and former Union Minister Gopinath Munde. He joined the NCP in 2012 after quitting the BJP.
Mr. Munde is the Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Council. In the recently concluded Maharashtra Assembly elections, he defeated his cousin Pankaja by over 30,000 votes.
Addressing a joint press conference in Mumbai, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar said that his nephew Ajit’s decision is an act of indiscipline, and no NCP worker is in favor of NCP-BJP govt. “An honest NCP worker can never be a part of BJP government formation,” he said, adding that around 11 MLAs along with Ajit joined hands with BJP. However, four-time NCP MLA Rajendra Shingane said that they were “misled”. Pawar further said that they can’t rule out a possibility of “cheating by the governor”. Ajit Pawar may have submitted a ‘ready-made’ list of NCP MLAs, he added.
Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad speaking on the government formation in Maharashtra said, “The governor has taken the call and we will prove our majority on the floor”.
Squarely blaming the Shiv Sena for the dramatic turn of events in Maharashtra, Athawale on Saturday urged NCP chief Sharad Pawar to walk over to the NDA camp, hinting that he might be rewarded with a plum portfolio at the Centre. He said Pawar should also consider backing his rebellious nephew Ajit Pawar – sworn in as the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra.
The Congress hit out at Devendra Fadnavis being sworn-in as the Maharashtra chief minister on Saturday, saying it was a “betrayal of people’s mandate” and the “illegitimate” government formation will self-destruct.
NCP’s Ajit Pawar was sworn-in as the deputy chief minister.
