NCP's Ajit Pawar named leader of Oppn in Maha assembly, CM Shinde calls him mature politician

Ajit Pawar will succeed Devendra Fadnavis, who was sworn in as the deputy chief minister of Maharahstra, a post previously held by Pawar himself.

Published on: Jul 4, 2022, 16:47:23 IST

By HT News Desk

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Ajit Pawar, Maharashtra's former deputy chief minister and senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader, was named the leader of Opposition in the House, the Assembly's principal secretary on Monday.

Pawar's name was proposed by NCP legislative party leader Jayant Patil and was approved by the Assembly as the Sharad Pawar-led camp emerged as the single-largest opposition party in the 288-member House, speaker Rahul Narvekar said.

Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde, who gave his first Assembly speech after securing a majority in the floor test held earlier in the day, described Pawar as a mature politician and administrator.

Shinde, who toppled the Uddhav Thackeray government with his camp of rebel Shiv Sena MLAs, spoke in the Assembly on the last day of the two-day special session of the House and said that Sena legislators were worried about their future following the alliance with the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party, and they wanted to be back with the party natural ally – BJP.

Reiterating that he did not force anyone to come with him, Shinde said, “We were told we would not get elected again. Between Fadnavis and me, we will get 200 elected in the next election.”

Also Read | Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde breaks down in House while recalling family

In the 288-member House, 164 MLAs voted in favour of Shinde and 99 voted against him. Three legislators abstained from voting, while 21 legislators, including Congress's Ashok Chavan and Vijay Wadettiwar, were absent.

The 31-month-old Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, which had overthrown the then Devendra Fadnavis-led government, was taken over by the Shinde-Fadnavis government. Ajit Pawar was named his deputy then before the NCP veteran managed to bring him back to his fold.

Shinde took oath as the new chief minister of Maharashtra on June 30.

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