Appointment of Jayant Patil as legislative party leader invalid: BJP's Ashish Shelar

Mumbai: As the NCP sacked Ajit Pawar and appointed party state president Jayant Patil as its legislative party chief, BJP leader Ashish Shelar on Saturday slammed the decision terming the appointment 'invalid'.

"BJP is of the view that Ajit Pawar's appointment as NCP legislative party leader was valid and appointment of Jayant Patil in his place today is invalid," said Shelar. In a major twist, Ajit Pawar pulled off a political coup in Maharashtra by joining hands with the BJP and taking oath as Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis's deputy, following which he was expelled as the legislative party leader of his party.

In a surprise development, Devendra Fadnavis took oath as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra on Saturday morning for a second term. The move came at a time when deliberations among Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena on the formation of a non-BJP government in the state had seemingly reached the final stage on Friday.