Why Did NCP Leaders Led By Ajit Pawar Join NDA?

NCP leader Ajit Pawar along with eight others joined Eknath Shinde-led government in Maharashtra on Sunday.

Apart from Pawar, Chhagan Bhujbal, Dilip Walse Patil, Aditi Tatkare, Dhananjay Munde, Hasan Mushrif, Ramraje Nimbalkar, Sanjay Bansode and Anil Bhaidas Patil took oath as ministers at Raj Bhavan today.

Why Did Ajith And Others Join NDA?

Rumours of Ajit joining the NDA have been doing rounds for over a month. Hence, the news doesn't come as a surprise to many, considering he was sidelined by Sharad Pawar, who appointed his daughter Supriya Sule and Praful Patel as Working Presidents.

However, the sudden development to join NDA was taken by the MLAs as they were not happy with Sharad Pawar's "unilateral" decision to share the stage and ally with Rahul Gandhi at the opposition unity meet in Patna, ANI reported citing sources.

Sources have informed PTI that Supriya Sule's elevation in the party expedited Ajit Pawar's decision to join the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena alliance.

More importantly, political pundits are of the view that they might have switched loyalty as they feared action against them from the central agencies which are investigating corruption cases.

Ajit Pawar is facing a probe in the Co-operative Bank scam and Irrigation scam, Hasan Mushrif is being probed by the ED in connection with a private complaint under section 447 (fraud) of The Companies Act, 2013, and Chhagan Bhujbal is being probed in a corruption case.

What Ajit Pawar Says?

In his first press conference after joining the NDA, Ajit Pawar said that the country is progressing under PM Modi's leadership adding that they should support development. "Today, we have decided to support the Maharashtra government and took oath as ministers. There will be a discussion on the portfolios later. Considering all aspects at the national level, we thought that we should support development,"

The decision to join the NDA government was taken as they intend to contest the upcoming polls with the BJP.

"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) and that is why we have taken this decision," he said.