Not NCP’s decision: Praful Patel adds more drama to the twist

New Delhi, Nov 23: Devendra Fadnavis was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra and the NCP's Ajit Pawar took oath as the deputy CM in an early morning twist.

Amidst talks that Ajit Pawar may have split the NCP, party leader Praful Patel has issued a statement, which has only added to the suspense.

Patel said that this is not the NCP's decision. Sharad Pawar has nothing to do with it, Patel also said adding more drama to the entire episode.

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.