As Ajit Pawar and some other Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leaders joined the Maharashtra government, the maximum impact of this development will be seen in Pune district and Western Maharashtra politics which is the party’s base.
Is the BJP’s sweet revenge in Maharashtra: two splits in 12 months, and putting a big question mark on the leadership of two major political parties of the state – Shiv Sena and NCP. Now, the saffron camp has absolute power for a makeover in the state’s political circles when seen in the context of numbers in the legislative assembly.
The BJP and Shiv Sena coalition had crossed the majority mark in the 2019 assembly elections, winning 161 seats together but could not form the government. The Sena, led by Uddhav Thackeray back then, demanded the post of chief minister and walked out of the alliance when the BJP did not relent.
The recent joining of NCP leaders by Ajit Pawar will have a major impact on Pune district and Western Maharashtra politics, as these areas are the party’s stronghold. There may be changes in the guardian minister positions in Pune and Kolhapur districts. The alliance between NCP and BJP may benefit the latter in Western Maharashtra, where NCP has a strong base. The fate of Western Maharashtra will be determined by senior Pawar’s actions in the coming days.
Pune district has ten MLAS, of which, eight are most likely to join Ajit Pawar, said a party leader.
The impact will start from BJP leader Chandrakant Patil. Patil is the guardian minister of Pune and Kolhapur district. As Ajit Pawar has taken oath as the deputy chief minister, he will prefer the post of Pune district guardian minister, and there are chances that Hasan Mushrif will ask the guardian minister post for Kolhapur.
Pawar on Sunday announced that there will be many changes as several MLAs joined Pawar and will prefer getting tickets.
NCP MLA from Indapur, Dattatray Bharne who is a close friend of Ajit Dada will prefer to get ticket at the same time BJP leader Harshawardhan Patil who joined a few years ago will ask for the same seat, stated political observers.
