While addressing a public meeting in Baramati on Sunday, an irate NCP leader, Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, asked the crowd if they had made him their servant. “You voted for me, but that doesn’t mean you own me,” he said.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra BJP chief and cabinet colleague Chandrashekhar Bawankule stressed the importance of the people, saying that it is they who bring leaders to power. He assured on Monday that the government will fulfil all promises.
Ajit Pawar, recognised as a sharp administrator who honed his political skills under his uncle Sharad Pawar, first became deputy chief minister in 2010 during Congress’s Prithviraj Chavan’s tenure. His second term as deputy CM was in 2012, again under Chavan, as part of the Congress-NCP alliance.
Both times, Congress was the dominant partner, which led Ajit Pawar to settle for the deputy role. Pawar saw his opportunity to break free in 2019 when the BJP-Shiv Sena split. In the early hours of November 23, 2019, Devendra Fadnavis attempted to form a hasty coalition with Ajit and a few breakaway NCP MLAs.
Last year, he split the NCP and joined the Mahayuti coalition where he was once again appointed as deputy chief minister along with Devendra Fadnavis under the leadership of Eknath Shinde who had been a minister in the MVA when Ajitdada was deputy CM.
The tradition of having a deputy chief minister in Maharashtra goes back to 1978, when Nashikrao Tirpude was appointed to the post. He lasted only five months — from March 5, 1978 to July 18, 1978 – and was succeeded by Sundarrao Solanke, who was deputy CM for a year and nine months, until February 2, 1980.
