Nagpur: After banners of Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadanvis as future chief minister of the state appeared in the city, banners of NCP leader Ajit Pawar becoming the chief minister have now surfaced.
However, what’s interesting here is that Pawar’s photo is missing from the poster. The banner first appeared at Milton square in Nagpur. Reportedly, the poster has been put up by NCP leader Prashant Pawar and has photographs of party supremo Sharad Pawar, Praful Patel and Anil Deshmukh.
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Pawar has been in the headlines since weeks now after his meeting with chief minister Eknath Shinde and deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis came into light. Speculations rife that Pawar is unhappy being in the NCP and is planning to switch to saffron.
The NCP leader’s willingness to switch can also be seen when he made the statement that he was ready to the chief minister even now, rather than waiting for 2024 elections.
In another fresh round of speculations, as per media reports, Pawar has managed to gather signatures of around 30 NCP leaders to switch to saffron. Let’s take a look at what the current developments are:
1. As per sources, 34 out of the 53 opposition MLAs have internally supported Pawar’s intention to join hands with the BJP and become a part of the Shinde-Fadnavis government.
2. Sources also claimed that prominent faces, including Praful Patel, Sunil Tatkare, Chagan Bhujbal, and Dhananjay Munde have decided to support Ajit Pawar’s intentions.
3. State NCP president Jayant Patil and party leader Jitendra Awadh do not favour him joining hands with the BJP.
4. According to sources, some Ajit camp MLAs have met the NCP supremo Sharad Pawar and informed him about MLAs willing to align with the BJP. However, as per sources, Sharad Pawar had refused to enter into an alliance with the BJP beforehand.
Another question arises: Why do Ajit Pawar supporters in the NCP want to switch power?
The first reason being that if Pawar and team join hands with the Shinde-Fadnavis government, it could be clean sweep for the NDS as Maharashtra brings 48 seats, the second highest after Uttar Pradesh
Another reason being that it could give the leaders relief from the central agencies as many opposition leaders such as Pawar and family are facing Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) heat.
Joining hands with the Shinde-Fadnavis government could ensure free-flow of funds in their constituencies which could help them retain their seats in the next polls.
Now Ajit Pawar does have some challenges in joining the Shinde-Fadnavis government. Many political analysts believe in case Sharad Pawar doesn’t support his nephew’s decision of joining hands with them it’ll be a major embarrassment. They also claim that he would not switch without NCP supremo’s nod.
The Vajramuth rally was held amid speculations of Pawar joining hands with the BJP after his meeting with Shinde-Fadnavis the previous week. However, all eyes were on Pawar’s address to the rally, which did not happen. Before the rally, while addressing the media, Pawar had made it clear that he will not be addressing the rally today as the main focus would be on former Maharashtra Home Minister and senior NCP leader Anil Deshmukh.
He further added due to time constraints, two leaders from each party would address the rally. “Last time Dhananjay Munde and I got a chance to speak, this time Anil Deshmukh and Jayant Patil would speak.”
