Has Ajit Pawar split the NCP and joined hand with the BJP

New Delhi, Nov 23: In an early morning twist, the BJP and NCP joined hands to form the government in Maharashtra. Devendra Fadnavis was sworn in as Chief Minister, while Ajit Pawar took over as the deputy chief minister.

What has surprised everyone is that this dramatic development took place just a few hours after the the Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress announced that they would be staking a claim to form the government. They were also to make a formal announcement today.

It is still not clear if Sharad Pawar is on the same page as Ajit Pawar. Going by the statements, it appears as though this was a decision taken by Ajit Pawar.

After being sworn in as the deputy CM, he said that he decided to take this call as the talks between the NCP, Congress and Shiv Sena were never ending. There was a need to give Maharashtra a stable government, said Ajit Pawar, who is Sharad Pawar's nephew.

It may be recalled that Sharad Pawar had met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi for 40 minutes last week. Pawar had said that he was meeting with the PM to discuss the farmer issue in Maharashtra.

Fadnavis said that the people had given us a clear mandate, but the Shiv Sena tried to ally with other parties. As a result of this President's rule was imposed in the state.

Maharashtra needed a stable government and not an unstable one. However it must be noted that Fadnavis had only thanked Ajit Pawar for the formation of the government.

Immediately after the oath taking ceremony, Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated both Fadnavis and Pawar. I am confident that they will work diligently for the bright future of Maharashtra, Modi also said.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah too took to Twitter and congratulated Fandnavis and Pawar.

The BJP has 105 seats, while the NCP has 54. In the 288 member assembly, the magic mark is 245 and both the parties are comfortably ahead of the mark. The Shiv Sena and the Congress on the other hand have 56 and 44 seats each.