Ajit Pawar's 'exit' from Maha Vikas Aghadi, NCP: What played behind | A timeline
Ajit Pawar recently said he does not want to be the opposition leader in the Assembly and instead work for the party.
Three weeks after Sharad Pawar made Supriya Sule and Praful Patel the working presidents of the Nationalist Congress Party, in a major development on Sunday, Ajit Pawar made a bold move to join the Maharashtra government of Eknath Shinde and Devendra Fadnavis with the support of at least 29 MLAs. The rumours of Ajit Pawar's possible rebellion have been doing the rounds for months with Sharad Pawar ameliorating the situation time and again. However, the fissures could not be hidden with the gradual sidelining of Ajit Pawar in the party though Ajit Pawar continued to dismiss all these rumours.
October 2019: Ajit Pawar took oath as the deputy chief minister extending NCP's support to the BJP. Fadnavis took oath as the chief minister. The government was shortlived as NCP, Congress and the undivided Shiv Sena formed an alliance which formed the government.
2019 to 2022: Ajit Pawar remained the deputy chief minister of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government until it was toppled by Shinde-Fadnavis's coup.
2022-2023: After Shinde and Fadnavis formed the government, Ajit Pawar became the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly.
April 2023: Rumours that Ajit Pawar would extend support to the BJP-Shinde Sena started doing the rounds. Ajit Pawar remained absent from many party events. At this time, Ajit Pawar issued many statements praising PM Modi but simultaneously maintained that he will never leave the NCP.
May 2023: Sharad Pawar announced his resignation from the post of the party president. It was believed that Ajit Pawar was eyeing the post. A few days later, Sharad Pawar withdrew his resignation.
June 2023: Sharad Pawar made Supriya Sule and Praful Patel joint working presidents of the party. Ajit Pawar was given no party post. Ajit Pawar openly said he wanted a party post and not the role of the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly.
July 2023: Ajit Pawar extends support to the Maharashtra government and is likely to take oath as joint deputy CM on July 2. Insiders said the NCP leaders who joined Ajit Pawar were not happy with Sharad Pawar sharing the stage with Rahul Gandhi in Patna at the recent meeting of the opposition leaders.
