Twice Sworn And Second In Command

Devendra Fadnavis’s deputy CM is now Uddhav Thackeray’s

- Giridhar Jha

Any politician would envy Ajit Pawar’s luck. In a little over a month, the 60-year-old NCP leader was sworn in twice as deputy CM of Maharashtra—first, as a BJP ally in the Devendra Fadnavis government that lasted barely three days in November, and now as second-in-command in an anti-BJP Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) ministry led by Uddhav Thackeray of the Shiv Sena.

If anybody sought to write a political obituary of the seven-time MLA from Baramati who defied his uncle and party president Sharad Pawar not long ago, staging a midnight coup to form the BJPNCP government during the days of uncertainty after the October 21 assembly elections, it was premature. He has sworn in again as deputy CM on December 30 in the MVA government, with Sharad Pawar’s apparent blessings.