Ajit Pawar, the former Leader of Opposition, took oath as Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra for the third time on July 2. He said that the decision was taken with nearly all MLAs of NCP and that they joined the government to support Prime Minister Narendra Modi's development agenda. Pawar also said that the NCP will contest the upcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly elections with the BJP.
Pawar's move indeed sent shockwaves into the political circles. Here are 10 important points of his statement:
The decision to support the Shinde-Fadanvis government was taken with nearly all MLAs of the NCP: Pawar said that the NCP took the decision to support the Shinde-Fadanvis government after considering all aspects at the national level.
The NCP will contest all elections in the name of the NCP only: Ajit Pawar said, "Most of our MLAs are satisfied with this. We have supported this government with NCP Party. We will contest all elections in the name of NCP only."
The country is progressing under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi: He said that the country is progressing under the leadership of PM Modi and that he joined the incumbent government because of their commitment for India's progress.
Ajit Pawar heaped praises on PM Modi: PM Modi is popular in other countries and everyone supports him and appreciates his leadership, he said.
The NCP legislators in Nagaland went ahead with forming a government with the BJP in the northeastern state: Ajit Pawar said that NCP joined hands with BJP in Nagaland and they very well could do so in Maharashtra as well. He further said that if the party can go with Shiv Sena, they can go with the saffron party as well.
NCP is for the betterment of Maharashtra: While talking about the criticism this move will elicit, he said that they don't care about it and will continue to work for betterment of Mahatashtra. He said as opposition leader he witnessed the things he can improve in Maharashtra and as a Deputy CM, he will now work to ease their issues.
On MLAs that were unreachable: Some MLAs could not be contacted as they were out of the country but we spoke to all of them and they agreed with the decision, Ajit Pawar said.
The portfolios will be discussed later: Ajit Pawar said that today, they just joined the government and are yet to discuss portfolios and that the discussion will be held later.
More NCP leaders to join as Ministers: Ajit Pawar said that additional ministers will be inducted in the government in a later expansion.
