Ajit Pawar Removed as NCP Legislative Party Head Hours After Being Sworn in As Maharashtra Dy CM, Jayant Patil Appointed as New Whip
Hours after Ajit Pawar was sworn-in as Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, he was removed as the Legislative head of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). Jayant Patil has now become a new whip of the NCP. All the powers which Ajit had, will now be enjoyed by Patil.
Mumbai, November 23: Hours after Ajit Pawar was sworn-in as Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, he was removed as the Legislative head of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). Maharashtra NCP chief Jayant Patil has now become a new whip of the NCP. All the powers which Ajit had, will now be enjoyed by Patil till the time, the NCP appoints new legislative party head. Sharad Pawar Does Not Endorse Ajit Pawar's Move of Supporting BJP in Maharashtra, Says NCP Has Nothing to Do With It.
At the press conference, which was held hours after Ajit took the oath, Sharad Pawar said that 8-11 party MLAs had gone with his nephew to Raj Bhawan. Shiv Sena Uddhav Thackeray and Aaditya Thackeray were also present at the media briefing. Amongst the rebels who returned back to Sharad Pawar’s camp are Sanjay Bhansod, Dilip Banker, Sunil Shelke and Balasaheb Patil.
According to reports, 50 MLAs attended the meeting called by the NCP chief. Till now, only three MLAs are with Ajit. Meanwhile, reports also surfaced that the Shiv Sena and the Congress are mulling to shift their MLAs to Jaipur to thwart any poaching attempt. ‘Uddhav Thackeray Ready to Become Maharashtra Chief Minister,’ Says Shiv Sena Leader Sanjay Raut.
Uddhav Thackeray also called a meeting of MLAs of his party at Mumbai's Lalit Hotel. After the meeting, he said that the Congress-NCP-Shiv Sena alliance would form the government in the state, and the CM would be from his party. He also asked his party workers to stay united.
On Friday, after the NCP’s meeting with the Congress and Shiv Sena, Sharad Pawar said that the next CM of the state would be Thackeray. All the three parties were also scheduled to hold a press conference on Saturday. The BJP’s move to stake claim took all by surprise.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 23, 2019 08:46 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).