Maha NCP Crisis: Ajit Pawar Does An Eknath Shinde, Becomes Deputy CM — A Timeline
NCP leader Ajit Pawar joins the Shiv-Sena-BJP govt along with 29-odd MLAs and takes oath as deputy CM, the third time since 2019.
On June 21, when news broke that Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar had pleaded with the party leadership that he be relieved of the post of Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly, not many may have known what was the real reason behind this wish of the leader. While making the wish, as he addressed the NCP's silver jubilee celebrations in Mumbai, Ajit Pawar had said he was never interested in the post but “relented only because of requests from the legislators”. He blamed the decision on “murmurs in some quarters” that he had not been a “strong or effective” Leader of Opposition.
Ajit Pawar, who was the deputy chief minister in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government led by Uddhav Thackeray, also said he would want the NCP leadership to give him any position in the party and then see how I handled it. At the same event, he slammed the Eknath Shinde government, saying it was time for it to go as he accused it of failing on all fronts, especially the law and order situation and the farmers' issues.
Less than two weeks later, the NCP leader joined the Shiv-Sena-BJP government along with 29-odd MLAs and took oath as the deputy chief minister on July 2, third time in less than four years. In November 2019, in what was one of the biggest political surprises Maharashtra had ever seen, Ajit Pawar was sworn in as the deputy CM when the BJP formed a minority government under Devendra Fadnavis as the CM with the support of NCP MLAs from the former’s camp.
That government was a short-lived one, lasting only 80-odd hours. NCP founder-president Sharad Pawar had salvaged the situation then, and engineered an unlikely alliance of the undivided Shiv Sena, the NCP and the Congress coming to power. Ajit Pawar, interestingly became the deputy CM in the MVA government too, and remained on the post until Shiv Sena saw a massive split with Shinde revolting with over 50 MLAs and toppling the Uddhav Thackeray government.
Ajit Pawar now appears to have done a Shinde on Sharad Pawar and his NCP. Here is a brief timeline of Ajit Pawar’s heroics in Maharashtra politics since 2019:
November 2019: Then Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari administered oath of office to Ajit Pawar as the deputy CM as he extended NCP's support to the BJP in forming the government after Uddhav Thakeray’s Shiv Sena broke away from the alliance demanding the CM post. Fadnavis was sworn in as the CM. The government fell fast as an NCP-Congress-Shiv Sena alliance government came to power. Ajit Pawar was made the deputy CM.
2019 to 2022: Ajit Pawar remained the deputy CM until the MVA government collapsed and Shinde became the CM with Fadnavis as his deputy.
2022 to 2023: Ajit Pawar was appointed the Leader of the Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly as the Shinde-led Shiv Shena faction formed the government with the BJP.
April 2023: Ajit Pawar skipped a meeting of the Mumbai NCP raising, triggering rumours about his next political move. He was absent at a few other NCP events too, and issued statements praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi around this time. All this led to intense speculation in the political circles about his growing proximity with the BJP. Pawar, however, maintained throughout that he would never leave the NCP.
May 2023: In a surprise decision, Sharad Pawar announced his resignation from the post of NCP president. It was reported that Ajit Pawar was eyeing this post even as other names were making the rounds. The party supremo, however, withdrew his decision.
June 2023: Sharad Pawar reshuffled the top leadership of the party, making Supriya Sule and Praful Patel joint working presidents. Ajit Pawar was not assigned any post on the ground that he was very busy with the important duties as the Leader of Opposition. Days later, he made the appeal to relieve him of the LoP position and be assigned a party post.
July 2023: Ajit Pawar took oath as a deputy CM, joining the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government along with 29 MLAs.
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