Ajit Pawar resigns as Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra

Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy CM Ajit Pawar

In a major development ahead of floor test on Wednesday, NCP’s Ajit Pawar has resigned as Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, reports Times Now. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to address media at 3:30 PM.

Earlier today, the Supreme Court had ordered a floor test to prove the majority by 5 PM on Wednesday. The 3 member bench of Justices had pronounced its verdict on the petition filed jointly by NCP-Sena and Congress against the BJP-led government’s formation in Maharashtra.

Read: Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress MLAs made to swear a pledge of loyalty for Sonia Gandhi, Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray

Last night, the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress alliance had held a ‘parade’ of its MLAs in the Hyatt Hotel in Mumbai. The Sena-led alliance claimed that it has the support of 162 MLAs, a comfortable majority over the halfway mark of 145.

On Saturday, 23 November, BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis had taken oath as the CM of Maharashtra in a surprise development. NCP’s Ajit Pawar had also taken oath as the Deputy CM, claiming the support of a faction of NCP MLAs.

A confusion has since broken out in the state, with the Sena claiming that Ajit had backstabbed them, and NCP claiming that no MLAs are in support of Ajit Pawar.

OpIndia Staff: Staff reporter at OpIndia