Aaditya Thackeray, Rohit Pawar centre of attraction at Maharashtra Assembly session

A day after the Devendra Fadnavis-led government was toppled following Ajit Pawar’s resignation, 285 of the 288 legislators took oath as MLAs on Wednesday. The centre of attraction of the one-day special session of the state Assembly remained members of the Pawar family and Thackeray scion Aaditya.

While Aaditya Thackeray and Rohit Pawar who won their first election took the oath, Ajit Pawar, the reason behind the four-day political turmoil in Maharashtra, grabbed the attention when he reached the Vidhan Bhavan.

Supriya Sule, NCP Baramati MP and daughter of NCP chief Sharad Pawar, welcomed the legislators at the entrance. She hugged her cousin Ajit with a smile, indicating all is well in the family.

“I never left the party. I was with the NCP, I am with the NCP and will remain with it. I met Pawarsaheb as he is my leader. The media has misreported about me in the past few days and I will react to it at an appropriate time,” Ajit said outside the Vidhan Bhavan.

Sule also welcomed former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. She warmly greeted Rohit (grandson of Sharad Pawar’s elder brother Appasaheb Pawar) and Aaditya with a hug. Rohit even touched her feet.

Rohit said he was sure his uncle would be back. “I don’t know how it happened. I did not go into the details. There was confusion in the family. But we all knew that he [Ajit Pawar] would return. We know Dada [Ajit Pawar] well,” he said.

BJP MLA Nitesh Rane said, “Aside from the political implications, no family should be broken. I am happy the Pawar family is together now.”

Kalidas Kolambkar, who was appointed as the Pro-tem speaker by Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Tuesday, gave oath to all legislators in the lower House.

Only two legislators — Sudhir Mungantiwar (BJP) and Devendra Bhuyar (Swabhimani Paksha) — could not attend the session. The oath will be given to them wherever they will be available in Mumbai, said an officer from the legislature secretariat .

Aaditya said, “I used to come here (Vidhan Bhavan) often to see the proceedings, but for the first time I am getting a chance to speak to the media as an MLA. There were a lot of young people, Rohit Pawar, Yogesh Kadam etc. at the swearing-in today. It will be good to work with the young crowd.”