After a week of heavy political drama, the Shiv Sena under Eknath Shinde, the BJP, and the NCP under Ajit Pawar are holding their first cabinet meeting at Mantralaya in Mumbai. Meanwhile, new state Deputy CM Ajit Pawar is also said to have inaugurated his new office opposite the Mantralaya on Tuesday, July 4.
Mumbai | Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar and his colleagues from NCP attended the cabinet meeting, for the first time after taking oath as ministers. pic.twitter.com/vSVL4JVF1W
— ANI (@ANI) July 4, 2023
According to the reports, a little chaos is said to have erupted outside the new party office of the Ajit Pawar faction after the party members were not provided with the key to the building ahead of the inauguration. The party members then pushed the door forcibly for the event. The keys to the building were not provided by the PWD (State Public Works Department), as per the Ajit Pawar faction supporters.
The political drama in the state has become more intense two days after the vertical split took place in the NCP. Earlier, the expulsion of MPs Sunil Tatkare and Praful Patel for “anti-party activities” was announced by NCP leader Sharad Pawar on Monday, July 3. This happened after Patel ‘installed’ Tatkare as the new state president and ‘removed’ Jayant Patil as the president of the Maharashtra NCP.
Further, Ajit Pawar and the other eight party MLAs had received a letter from Jayant Patil alerting them that they were being investigated for disqualification.
Jitendra Awhad replaced Ajit Pawar as the leader of the opposition in the assembly on Sunday after Pawar opened a rift among the NCP by joining the Maharashtra government.
As per the reports, the first cabinet meeting of the three-parties coalition between the BJP, Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, and NCP led by Ajit Pawar is underway at Mantralaya in Mumbai. Meanwhile, the Congress is also holding a meeting of its legislators, where the issue of staking a claim to the post of the Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly is likely to come up for discussion.
#WATCH | Congress Legislative Party meeting begins at Maharashtra Vidhan Bhavan.
— ANI (@ANI) July 4, 2023
(Source: Congress) pic.twitter.com/YO8ZLokzWc
#WATCH | Maharashtra Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat, says "Leader of the Opposition will be from the party which has the maximum number of MLAs. We (NCP, Congress and Uddhav Thackeray faction) will fight together against BJP. Congress will get a good number of seats in 2024 Lok… pic.twitter.com/2RM1yCHwO7
— ANI (@ANI) July 4, 2023
Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat commented on the meeting and stated that the Leader of the Opposition will be from the party which has the maximum number of MLAs.
51 NCP MLAs wanted Sharad Pawar to join BJP: Praful Patel
The leader of the Nationalist Congress Party, Praful Patel, asserted on July 4 that after the MVA government in Maharashtra fell apart last year, 51 of the party’s 53 MLAs had suggested exploring the idea of working with the BJP.
In an interview with Marathi media outlet Zee 24 Taas, Patel, who has now joined Ajit Pawar’s side, argued that if the NCP can form a government with the Shiv Sena, why not with the BJP. He also said that the decision to be a part of the ruling government is not impulsive but it is well thought out. “Many of the NCP members wanted this to happen. A lot of discussions happened within the party,” Patel was quoted as saying.
“There were discussions on this issue, but no decision was arrived at. Now a shape has been given. The decision has been taken as a party, not by me or Ajit Pawar individually. Jayant Patil was among the 51 MLAs, who wanted Sharad Pawar to explore the possibility of joining the government. Only Anil Deshmukh and Nawab Malik were not present. The NCP ministers wrote a letter to Sharad Pawar saying the party shouldn’t stay out of power. There is no harm in exploring the possibility of joining the government,” the Rajya Sabha member said.
Further commenting on why the step to join the government was not taken, Patel said, “No decision was arrived at and the other side may have felt we were not required.”
