NEW DELHI: After Nationalist Congress Party’s (NCP) Ajit Pawar along with eight party leaders joined the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in Maharashtra, former Karnataka Chief Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader BS Yediyurappa on Sunday said that this is a very good development.
“This is a very good development, I welcome that development in Maharashtra…I am happy about the decision and the people of Maharashtra are also happy…”, Yediyurappa said.
In a dramatic turn of events, Nationalist Congress Party’s (NCP) Ajit Pawar along with eight party leaders joined the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in Maharashtra. Ajit Pawar took oath as the Deputy Chief Minister.
Ajit Pawar justified his party’s decision to join the NDA government in Maharashtra and emphasized that the country has progressed under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He explained that the decision was taken as they intend to contest the upcoming polls with the Bharatiya Janata Party.
“The country is progressing under the leadership of PM Modi. He is also popular in other countries. Everyone supports him and appreciates his leadership. We will fight the upcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly elections with them (BJP), which is why we have taken this decision,” he said.
Meanwhile, on Sunday, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said that the state’s double-engine government has now become “triple-engine and it will run like a bullet train”.
CM Shinde said to the media, “Now we have 1 Chief Minister and 2 Deputy Chief Ministers. The double-engine government has now become a triple-engine and now it will run like a bullet train. For the development of Maharashtra, I welcome Ajit Pawar and his leaders. Ajit Pawar’s experience will help strengthen Maharashtra.”
Ajit Pawar, Chhagan Bhujbal, Dilip Walse Patil, Aditi Tatkare, Dhananjay Munde, Hasan Mushrif, Ramraje Nimbalkar, Sanjay Bansode and Anil Bhaidas Patil took oath at Raj Bhawan today.
According to the party sources, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has the backing of 40 NCP MLAs & 6 NCP MLCs.
MLAs accompanying Ajit Pawar to Raj Bhawan were upset with NCP supremo Sharad Pawar’s ‘unilateral’ decision to share the stage and ally with Rahul Gandhi at the opposition unity meet in Bihar’s Patna last month, as per the sources. (ANI)