Mumbai: Ajit Pawar back as Maharashtra's Deputy CM for 3rd time in 4 years

After a brief stint as Maharashtras deputy chief minister in 2019 under a BJP government NCP leader Ajit Pawar is back to the post by splitting the party in a stunning turn events in the state politicsAjit Pawar who was also the deputy CM in the previous Uddhav Thackerayled Maha Vikas Aghadi MVA government which was in power from November 2019 to June 2022 enjoys the image of a grassroot leader and an able administratorThe 63yearold leader who is known to be politically ambitious and speak his mind took oath as the deputy CM of Maharashtra on Sunday for the third time since 2019 capping months of intense speculation about his next political moveAjit Pawar who is the son of NCP chief Sharad Pawars elder brother late Anant Pawar recently appealed to the party leadership to relieve him of the responsibility of leader of the opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly and assign him a role in the party organisationIn the 2019 assembly elections Ajit Pawar was reelected from Baramati Assembly constituency with the highest margin of more than 165 lakh votes in the stateIn November 2019 Ajit Pawar were sworn in as the deputy CM for the shortest term as the government led by BJPs Devendra Fadnavis which took oath in a hushhush ceremony in the Raj Bhawan lasted just 80 hoursHe again became the deputy chief minister in the MVA government led by Thackeray and remained in the position for twoand half years till the alliance government collapsed in June last yearEarlier Ajit Pawar also served as deputy CM during the 15year tenure of CongressNCP government under Ashok Chavan and Prithviraj ChavanApart from handling finance portfolio in the CongressNCP and MVA governments Ajit Pawar has also handled water resources and power departmentsAjit Pawar made his foray into politics in 1982 as member on the board of a cooperative sugar factory He was elected as chairman of the Pune District Cooperative Bank in 1991 and remained on the post for many yearsHe was elected as an MP from Baramati in 1991 but vacated the post for uncle Sharad Pawar who became defence minister in the Narasimha Rao governmentLater Ajit Pawar was elected as MLA from Baramati and went on to represent the constituency for six termsHe first became the minister of state for agriculture and power in the Sudharkarrao Naik government and later a cabinet minister in 1999Ajit Pawar s close aides and family members have been facing investigations by the Enforcement Directorate and the AntiCorruption Bureau ACB in their sugar cooperative unitsIn 2014 Devendra Fadnavis who was in the opposition highlighted Ajit Pawars alleged involvement in the Rs 70000 crore irrigation scam It was during Ajit Pawars tenure as water resources minister that allegations of irregularities surfaced in irrigation projects in the stateIn May this year before Sharad Pawar announced his decision to quit as the party chief only to withdraw it later Ajit Pawar visited Delhi to meet the BJP leadershipAs per sources Supriya Sules elevation in the party expedited Ajit Pawars decision to join the ruling BJPShiv Sena allianceAjit Pawars fresh defiance of his uncle has led to questions over the future of the NCP which recently celebrated 24 years of its foundationRecently Maharashtras Deputy CM Fadnavis and Sharad Pawar were engaged in a war of wordsSharad Pawar spoke of throwing a googly on Fadnavis over the 2019 hushhush swearing in ceremony But now with the split in the NCP Fadnavis seems to have delivered a yorkerThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever