Shiv Sena has agreed to share chief minister’s post with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) for 2.5 years. According to sources, Sena has agreed to make Ajit Pawar the chief minister of the state for 2.5 years to placate him.
Ajit Pawar has joined hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday and took oath as Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra along with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Shiv Sena’s acceptance to share the coveted post with NCP is seen as yet another attempt by both the parties to keep Sena-NCP-Congress intact.
Meanwhile senior Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut said that November 23 was a “black Saturday” and maintained that the Maha Vikas Aghadi (the Sena, the Congress, the NCP) still had a majority with 165 legislators.
Mr. Raut said, “NCP chief Sharad Pawar is a national leader, if the BJP is trying to break his party, this will boomerang on the BJP. Even before the Assembly election, there was trying to break the NCP when the BJP poached people from the NCP. Poaching Ajit Pawar was their last move which has boomeranged.
They were expecting around 25 MLAs to support Ajit Pawar. I hope the BJP has come out of that delusion now. Nearly all the NCP MLAs have returned, barely five MLAs may have stayed, and in return of five MLAs, the BJP has given Ajit Pawar Deputy CM place? They were supposed to be good at business but now are struggling,” said Mr. Raut.
During the hearing in the apex court, the Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena had demanded that the SC order an immediate floor test so that the BJP can prove it has the numbers. The three parties also accused Governor Koshyari of being bias and stressed that the lifting of President’s Rule was “shrouded in mystery”.
The political drama in Maharashtra took a new turn on Saturday after Fadnavis took oath as the CM. The development left Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress in complete shock as Ajit Pawar unilaterally decided to part ways from Sharad Pawar-led NCP
Fadnavis took oath the CM few hours after the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress reached an agreement over government formation in Maharashtra with Sharad Pawar announcing on Friday (that Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray will lead the Sena-NCP-Congress alliance government in the state.
