Ajit Pawar is now Maharashtra's new Deputy Chief Minister

Ajit Pawar who was with NCP for many decades has defected the party to join Eknath Shinde and Devendra Fadnavis and has taken an oath as Maharashtra's Deputy Chief Minister. He took an oath at Raj Bhavan.

It is believed that Devendra Fadnavis might get a post at Delhi's ministerial cabinet. It is not confirmed yet. 

It is considered as one of the shocking moments in Maharashtra politics after Eknath Shinde's rebellion where the former and Devendra Fadnavis took oath as Maharashtra's CM and Deputy CM, respectively. The Shinde's rebellion forced then Maha CM Uddhav Thackeray to step down. 

Ministers that took oath as ministers along with Ajit Pawar are

Maharashtra speaker Rahul Narvekar confirmed that before taking the oath ceremony, Ajit Pawar tendered his resignation as leader of opposition and it was accpeted. Prafull Patel who has been assigned as NCP working president Praful Patel is also seen with Ajit Pawar.

Eknath Shinde welcomes Ajit Pawar as Deputy CM
While speaking to media, Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde expressed happiness over the oath ceremony. He said he has welcomed Ajit Pawar as deputy CM and other MLAs. Hinting towards Ajit Pawar, he said that when a leader is ill treated, he takes action. Now, with an addition of NCP, this will be a triple engine and the development will be in full force and will run like bullet train, said Shinde.

Soon, Maharashtra will get new CM
Uddhav Thackeray (UBT) party leader Sanjay Raut while talking to the media said Devendra Fadnavis and Shinde's party is unstable. While they boast that they had large number of party members, yet they were in need of NCP party leaders. This was going to happen, said Raut. Eknath Shinde will no longer serve as CM and his party will not stay. One engine is on the verge of breaking down, hence they added another engine, said Raut. He added that he spoke with Sharad Pawar and added that the latter is calm is in talks.  

Eknath Shinde's MLAs who joined BJP were expecting expansion of the cabinet but now they are unhappy as NCP joined in, it is quite visible, added Raut. Maharashtra soon will meet new CM, says Raut. 

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena president Raj Thackeray tweeted after Ajit Pawar's oath as Deputy CM. He has mentioned that Maharashtra is witnessing dirty politics. He also gave reference to Marathi's well known movie Sinhasan which is based on Maharashtra politics. 

Ajit Pawar took oath as Maha Deputy CM in 2019

In November 2019, Ajit Pawar rebelled against the NCP chief Sharad Pawar when the latter was trying to forge an alliance of the Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress to form the government in Maharashtra. Ajit Pawar took an oath as deputy chief minister early in the morning at Raj Bhavan.

Pawar's overnight switch was key to the BJP's surprise comeback. Due to differences of opinion, the BJP and Shiv Sena, then under Uddhav Thackeray, won a majority but couldn't form the government. The BJP and Shiv Sena then parted ways. After Sharad Pawar completely cornered him and the BJP failed in the numbers game, Ajit Pawar also tendered his resignation.