Ajit Pawar

Ajit Pawar splits NCP, takes oath as Maharashtra Dy CM Shinde

NCP leader Ajit Pawar joined the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance in Maharashtra and took oath as Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister on Sunday in a surprise and dramatic political move that changed political

Ajit Pawar praises PM Modi, says under his leadership BJP got majority

Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar on Saturday said that using PM Narendra Modi's name BJP came to power with a majority in the 2014 elections and was able to reach remote places

Maha govt must take Covid-19 seriously, apprise citizens, says Ajit Pawar

Maharashtra Leader of Opposition Ajit Pawar on Friday said the state government should look into the COVID-19 situation immediately, as cases have been on the rise and apprise citizens. As per the state health department, Maharashtra had on Thursday recorded 803 fresh coronavirus cases and three fatalities that raised the tally of infections to 81,47,673, which includes 1,48,454 deaths. "During the recently concluded Assembly sessions, we had asked the state government about measures it was taking and the line of action it had decided to enable people's representatives to go back to their constituencies and work on dealing with the COVID-19 situation by taking officials into confidence," Pawar told reporters in Pune. During the Maha Vikas Aghadi rule, the Uddhav Thackeray-led government had been united in its fight against coronavirus. Expressing concern, Pawar said that while the number of infections was increasing by the day, no one seemed to be taking the situation seriously. "

Ajit Pawar targets government over ministers' absence; Fadnavis apologises

Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Assembly Ajit Pawar on Wednesday lashed out at the state government over the absence of ministers during the special sitting of the House due to which 7 of the 8 calling attention notices had to be postponed. This elicited an apology from Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. A calling attention notice allows House members to bring the attention of a minister to a matter of urgent public importance. The issue cropped up after the Assembly, which is having its budget session, resumed its proceedings for the day at 11 am. As soon as Speaker Rahul Narvekar took up the Question Hour, an agitated Ajit Pawar said that in the special sitting today, 8 calling attention notices were listed but just one, related to tourism, could be taken up for discussion because only that minister concerned was present. The rest had to be postponed due to the absence of other ministers, he said. This is the height of shamelessness when ministers do not take legislati

Maha govt must compensate farmers: Ajit Pawar after unseasonal rain damages

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar on Wednesday urged the state government to come forward to support and compensate the farmers.Addressing the media, Pawar said, "Maharashtra's farmers have suffered a lot in the past three days due to unseasonal rains. We'll raise the issue of compensation to farmers in Assembly today. Today, the state government (Shinde-led government) must come forward to support and compensate the farmers.""We have given adjournment notice in the Assembly on the issue of compensation to the farmers, the Maharashtra LoP further said. "There was a forecast of rain for these 3 days everywhere. Now, the government should focus on ensuring the materialisation of the farm insurance claims," he added.On February 28, the Maharashtra Legislative Council was adjourned after opposition legislators created a ruckus on the issue of farmers demanding an appropriate price for onions as prices dipped.The Opposition leader of the Legislative Council, Ambadas Danve

Shouldn't we offer tea to people who come to CM residence? asks Shinde

"They are given tea, not biriyani. It is in our culture that when someone comes they are offered tea and water," he added

Why EC was in hurry to decide Sena case, asks NCP leader Ajit Pawar

Senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar on Friday termed the Election Commission's decision to recognize the Eknath Shinde-led faction as the real Shiv Sena as "unexpected" and asked why the poll panel was in a hurry to give the ruling. Ordinary Shiv Sena workers will stand by Uddhav Thackeray, he added. "It is an unexpected ruling. It is difficult to understand why so much haste was shown (by the EC ) when the Supreme Court today morning said it would give decision (in a related matter) after hearing arguments from both the sides from February 21," Pawar said. "Everyone knows who founded the Shiv Sena. Who was Hindu-hriday Samrat? Who was the Shiv Sena chief? Who was leading the Sena after Balasaheb's death? So the common Shiv Sainik and voters who believe in the Shiv Sena will retain respect toward Uddhav ji and will prove that their Shiv Sena is the real Shiv Sena in the elections," he said.

What I said is 100% true: Fadnavis on his claim on govt with Ajit Pawar

Sticking to his statement that Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar had backed his plan to form a government with his nephew Ajit Pawar, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadanvis on Wednesday said his statement was "100 per cent true" and he was not lying. "Whatever I had said was 100 per cent true, and there was no lie in it. I won't speak today on various interpretations that are being derived. I want to speak more on this, and I will speak at an appropriate time and that time is yet to come," Fadnavis told reporters here. When asked that following his statement, Ajit Pawar is "not reachable", the deputy CM said that he cannot speak about the NCP leader. "He should decide what he has to say," Fadnavis added. In one of the biggest political surprises in Maharashtra, the then Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari swore in Fadnavis as the CM and Ajit Pawar as deputy CM in an early morning ceremony on November 23, 2019. But the government lasted just three days,

Power does not remain with anyone forever, says NCP leader Ajit Pawar

Pawar made remarks while addressing a campaign event for the Kasba Assembly bye-election in Pune

Friction arose with Prithviraj Chavan as he had no experience: Ajit Pawar

Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar said on Friday that the reason for the discord between him and then Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan was that the latter had no experience of the state's politics. Pawar was deputy chief minister when Chavan headed the Congress-NCP alliance government between 2010 and 2014. Asked about the talk of discord between him and Chavan during an interview at an event organised by the Lokmat media group here, Pawar said Chavan had never worked even as an MLA in the state as he was mostly based in Delhi. "Prithviraj Chavan had never worked as an MLA here. He was not aware of what kind of treatment we had received from people in the power....He had no experience of the state cabinet," the NCP leader said. "He had been working in the PMO and there is a difference between the state politics and politics in Delhi," Pawar added. Chavan, who was a minister in the Manmohan Singh government, became chief minister after Ashok Chavan resigned .

Never insulted any national icon, says Ajit Pawar on Sambhaji controversy

Senior Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar on Wednesday asserted that he has never insulted any national icon, and accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders of doing so and not apologising for it. Pawar said he supports the use of the epithet "Swarajya-rakshak" (protector of Swarajya -- the independent Maratha state) for Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj, the son of the founder of the Maratha empire Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, as it does justice to his accomplishments. Pawar, the Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly, said he holds Chhatrapati Sambhaji in high regard. "I have never spoken against any national icon....The BJP has been orchestrating protests against me," he alleged. "The Maharashtra governor (Bhagat Singh Koshyari) has made remarks against national icons, so have many BJP MLAs and leaders. They have not even apologised for their remarks," he said. Pawar said he had used the term "Swarajya-rakshak" even while presenting the state budget as Finance

CM avoided replying to main issues raised during winter session: Ajit Pawar

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde did not even touch upon the important issues raised in the legislature, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Ajit Pawar said on Friday on the last day of the winter session here. The session of the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council, which had started on December 19, came to an end on Friday. Pawar said at a press conference that opposition had demanded the resignation of four 'tainted' ministers. The government shielded ministers Abdul Sattar and Sanjay Rathod who have faced strictures from the High Court in separate cases, he said. "The government did not take action or provide satisfactory reply on the issue," the Nationalist Congress Party leader said. "Similarly, we had demanded the removal of Maharashtra Governor (Bhagat Singh Koshyari) over his comments insulting the icons of Maharashtra," he said, claiming that the government did not give a proper reply. Chief minister Shinde's reply on the 'last week's resolution' on ...

NCP's Ajit Pawar accuses govt of fiscal indiscipline, targets Fadnavis

Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Ajit Pawar on Tuesday accused the state government of financial indiscipline after it tabled a more than Rs 52,000 crore supplementary demand last week. He also pointed out that the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party government does not have a single woman minister. You have breached fiscal discipline, Pawar said, noting that when he was finance minister in the previous Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP and Congress government, he had presented a budget of Rs 5,60,000 crore in March 2022. The Eknath Shinde government came to power in June. Devendra Fadnavis, his successor in the finance ministry, presented his first supplementary demand of Rs 25,000 crore in an earlier session and the second demand of record Rs 52,000 crore last week, Pawar pointed out. If a third demand is tabled, the total could go up to Rs 1 lakh crore or around 20 per cent of the original budget tabled in March, he said. You (Fadnavis) keep ...

Uddhav Thackeray to attend Maharashtra winter session, says Ajit Pawar

Former Maharashtra chief minister and MLC Uddhav Thackeray will attend the winter session of the state legislature beginning here on Monday, opposition leader Ajit Pawar said. Thackeray, who heads the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) faction, had not attended the monsoon session of the state legislature held in Mumbai. Uddhav Thackeray will be present for the winter session (of the Maharashtra legislature), Pawar said while responding to a query from reporters. Interestingly, after announcing his decision to quit as the chief minister in June this year, Thackeray said he would also resign as a member of the Upper House of the state legislature. The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government led by Thackeray collapsed following a rebellion led by Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde and several MLAs against the party leadership. Subsequently, Shinde took oath as the chief minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Devendra Fadnavis as his deputy.

Oppn to target Maha govt over investment loss in winter session: Ajit Pawar

The Opposition will corner the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government over agrarian distress and the state losing investment projects in the winter session of the legislature beginning here on Monday, opposition leader Ajit Pawar said on Sunday. Pawar also said the Opposition has unanimously decided to boycott the customary tea party to be hosted by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde later in the day. Other issues like remarks by state Governor B S Koshyari on Shivaji Maharaj and the simmering border row with Karnataka are also likely to dominate the winter session. "The Opposition will target the government over big-ticket investment projects preferring other states over Maharashtra and the agrarian distress," Pawar, the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, told a press conference here. Pawar's counterpart in the Legislative Council, Ambadas Danve (Shiv Sena UBT), senior leaders of the Nationalist Congress Party and state Congress president Nana Patole were also present. Pawar said

Talks with Amit Shah on border dispute should be made public: Ajit Pawar

Maharashtra Leader of Opposition Ajit Pawar on Saturday said that Karnataka and Maharashtra CMs' talks with Union Home Minister Amit Shah regarding the border issue should be made public

Maharashtra Oppn to stage protest on Dec 17 regarding border row and more

He said that all like-minded parties have agreed upon the agenda of the protest rally and would like to request people to join us in large numbers

Governor Koshyari wants to leave Maha amid Shivaji remark row: Ajit Pawar

Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari had told him that he wanted to be relieved of his post, Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar claimed on Wednesday. While expressing disapproval about Koshyari's recent remarks about Shivaji Maharaj, he also wondered if Koshyari was making such controversial statements only to force the Union government to shift him out of Maharashtra. Pawar was replying to a reporter's question about Koshyari's recent 'controversial' remark where he called Shivaji Maharaj an "icon of olden times". Many times when I visited governor Koshyari at Raj Bhavan, he told me in as many words that he wanted to leave the state, Pawar said. I even asked him to convey this to his seniors so that they consider his wish, said the Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly. "He should not have said such things," Pawar said, referring to the remark about Shivaji Maharaj. When a government official is posted in some position against his or her wishes, they

Ajit Pawar flays Maharashtra government for losing major projects

Maharashtra's former Deputy Chief Minister and currently the leader of opposition Ajit Pawar criticised the Shinde-Fadnavis government after the state lost the Tata Airbus project to Gujarat

Farmers facing crisis due to 'wet drought' in Maharashtra: Ajit Pawar

Senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar on Wednesday said farmers in Maharashtra were facing a crisis after suffering crop losses due to the "wet drought" caused by heavy rains in parts of the state. Pawar also said he met Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis before Diwali and told them that the "situation has gone out of hand". The former deputy CM was speaking on the occasion of the Pawar family's Diwali celebration at their residence 'Govindbaug' in Baramati town of Pune district. A number of people and party workers came there to greet NCP chief Sharad Pawar, his daughter and Lok Sabha member from Baramati Supriya Sule and other family members on Diwali. Asked about 'wet drought', Ajit Pawar said, "Everything is messed up due to the wet drought. Before Diwali, I met the chief minister and deputy chief minister and informed them that the situation has gone out of hand and the farmers are in trouble." The kharif and rabi crops were damaged and farmers w