Want to become Maharashtra chief minister: Ajit Pawar after rebellion

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who recently led a rebellion against his uncle Sharad Pawar with the help of at least 36 other supporters, has yet again expressed his ambition to become the chief minister. Addressing his supporters at MET Bandra in a show of strength, Ajit Pawar said, “I want to become Maharashtra chief minister to implement certain plans I have for people's welfare.”

The junior Pawar also blamed the 82-year-old Sharad Pawar for NCP losing out on the chance to have a chief minister of Maharashtra despite having the support of a majority of MLAs in the year 2004.

At the party meeting today, Ajit Pawar lamented that the state would have a chief minister from NCP, had the party not conceded the top post to Congress during the 2004 election when NCP had more MLAs. Maharashtra news LIVE updates

Ajit Pawar said, “In the 2004 Vidhan Sabha election, NCP had more MLAs than Congress. Had we not given Chief Minister post to Congress at that time, till date, Maharashtra would have had a Chief Minister only from Nationalist Congress Party.”

This is not the first time Ajit Pawar said he aspires to be the Chief Minister of Maharashtra. In fact, after Ajit Pawar's rebellion, several Opposition leaders claimed that Chief Minister Eknath Shinde would soon be replaced by Ajit Pawar as the “BJP has promised him the seat”.

Earlier in April when he was asked if he would like to be the chief minister, Ajit Pawar replied in affirmation, saying, "Yes, I would 100 per cent like to be [CM]."

On being asked if the NCP will stake a claim for the chief minister's post in the Assembly polls, he remarked, “Why 2024, we are ready to stake a claim for the CM position now also.”