Ajit Pawar becomes new leader of opposition in Maharashtra assembly, CM Eknath Shinde says THIS

Earlier on Monday (July 4), Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde won the floor test in the state Assembly.

New Delhi: Ajit Pawar, former Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and National Congress Party (NCP) leader, was elected as the leader of Opposition in the Assembly. Earlier in the day, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde won the crucial floor test in the state Assembly on the last day of the two-day special session of the House. According to a PTI report, in the 288-member House, 164 MLAs voted in favour of Shinde, while 99 voted against it. Three legislators abstained from voting, while 21 legislators, including Congress's Ashok Chavan and Vijay Wadettiwar, were absent.

In Eknath Shinde's speech after winning the floor test, Shinde spoke about the time when he was supposed to become CM during the MVA alliance. However, Ajit Pawar allegedly didn't want him to become the CM. He said, "Initially, I was supposed to be made CM in the MVA govt... But later Ajit Dada (Ajit Pawar) or someone said that I should not be made CM. I had no problem and I told Uddhav ji to go ahead, and that I was with him. I never eyed that post."

Notably, Eknath Shinde led a revolt against Shiv Sena leading to the collapse of the 31-month-old Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government and took oath as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra on June 30.Fadnavis, who was Chief Minister of Maharashtra from 2014-19, had announced at a joint press conference in Mumbai on Thursday that Eknath Shinde will be the new CM. Fadnavis also announced at the press conference that he will not be part of the government.

In today's floor test, Shiv Sena MLA from Shetkari Kamgar Paksh of Uddhav Thackeray faction Shyamsundar Shinde also voted in favour of Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde in the trust vote today.

He did not join the Shinde faction but voted in their favour. Former ministers Ashok Chavan and Vijay Wadettiwar of Congress were out of the House, hence they could not vote, while Nawab Malik and Anil Deshmukh also did not come to House for voting.Soon after the Trust Vote ended, Shiv Sena leader and earlier whip Sunil Prabhu raised the issue of the whip but Speaker interrupted him and asked him to sit and said he has already everything on record.

The trust vote came a day after BJP`s Rahul Narwekar was elected the Assembly Speaker. On Sunday, Narwekar reinstated Shinde as the Shiv Sena`s legislative party leader and also recognised the appointment of Gogawale as the chief whip of the Shiv Sena.

(With PTI inputs)