Ashocking Ajit Pawar, the leader of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), was sworn in as deputy chief minister of the Eknath Shinde administration on Sunday at Raj Bhavan in Mumbai. Nine other NCP MLAs also took the oath of office as ministers. In the Shinde administration, Ajit will share the position with deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis.

Dilip Walse Patil, Hasan Mushrif, and Chhagan Bhujbal, members of the Ajit Pawar faction, were among the nine NCP leaders.

Ajit has been in the news for the last two months due to rumors that he was “unhappy” in the NCP about being denied the position of party state unit chairman, which is presently being held by Supriya Sule, the daughter of Sharad Pawar, and Praful Patel.

Ajit had said in his address at the NCP Foundation Day festivities on June 10 that he would “do complete justice to whatever responsibility I am entrusted with,” regardless of what position he was given in the party organization.

When Sharad Pawar announced his resignation as party leader, it caused turmoil within the cadre. Many senior leaders offered suggestions, but Ajit’s was not one of them. He really skipped the press conference organised by NCP to announce Sharad’s resignation’s retraction.

Ajit Pawar has the strongest grip on the party structure after Sharad Pawar. From state to local body elections, he pays close attention and has consistently produced the desired outcomes for the party.

Ajit resigned from his position as the Baramati MLA before to the 2019 general elections due to rumors of a family dispute. He subsequently revealed that he had done this because Sharad Pawar’s name had been used by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case involving the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank, of which Ajit was a director.