Former Maharashtra home minister Dilip Walse Patil, Chhagan Bhujbal, and Dhananjay Munde were among the eight Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leaders who took oath as Maharashtra Ministers with newly sworn-in Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Sunday in the presence of CM Eknath Shinde and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis. In an expected development, NCP leader Ajit Pawar extended support to the Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde) led government. Maharashtra BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule claimed 40 MLAs of NCP (out of the total 53) have supported the state government.
Here is the list of ministers sworn in today:
- Ajit Pawar
- Chhagan Bhujbal
- Dilip Walse Patil
- Dhananjay Munde
- Aditi Tatkare
- Sanjay Baburao Bansode
- Anil Bhaidas Patil
- Dharmarao Atram
Ajit Pawar has taken away 40 NCP MLAs and 3 MPs including Praful Patel who may be inducted as a cabinet minister in the Modi government, as per sources.
Ahead of the swearing-in ceremony, Maharashtra Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said that over 40 MLAs are extending support to the Shiv Sena-BJP government in the state.
"Almost the entire NCP will be joining. Ajit Pawar's post will be decided by CM Eknath Shinde. He will distribute the portfolios. The oath-taking ceremony will begin in 5 minutes," Mungantiwar said, as per news agency ANI.
Ajit Pawar joining the Shinde BJP government makes the BJP's side stronger as the saffron is reaching the majority figure even without the support of the Shinde faction. At present, the government has the support of 166 MLAs, including 125 MLAs from the BJP and 40 from the Shinde camp. If 30 MLAs of the Ajit Pawar camp join hands with the BJP, it will have the support of 156 MLAs, which will be 11 more than the majority.
Earlier in the day, NCP working president Supriya Sule, party leader Praful Patel and others attended a party meeting at Ajit Pawar's residence. It was speculated that after the change in the national executive of the NCP, there may be a change in the Maharashtra unit as well. Leaders like Dilip Walse Patil, Hasan Mushrif, Dhananjay Munde, and Daulat Dorada also attended the meeting.
Notably, Ajit Pawar had expressed his desire to become the state president a few days ago. If sources are to be believed, Ajit Pawar was trying to put pressure on party chief Sharad Pawar.
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