Ajit Pawar elected as Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Legislative Assembly

As soon as the new Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde ended his address after winning the trust vote, Speaker Rahul Narwekar confirmed Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar as the Leader of Opposition.

Shinde is popularly called as “Bhai” by his colleagues and followers, while Pawar is known as “Dada” by all.

The 62-year-old is the nephew of NCP Sharad Pawar, and is a seven-time MLA from Baramati, and former Member of Parliament from the Baramati Lok Sabha constituency. A four-time Deputy Chief Minister, Pawar has held portfolios such as finance and planning, irrigation and water resources, and rural development.

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Over the last couple of days, Maha Vikas Aghadi leaders, including Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray and senior Congress leaders held discussions and approved Ajit Pawar’s name for the Leader of the Opposition.

The newly named Leader of the Opposition said that as an MLA and a minister, he has seen several other Leaders of Opposition—including Manohar Joshi, Gopinath Munde, Madhukarrao Pichad, Narayan Rane, Ramdas Kadam, Eknath Khadse, Eknath Shinde, Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, Vijay Wadettiwar and Devendra Fadnavis-- and saw how they functioned.

“I will assure you that no bill would be passed without healthy discussions,” he said, adding that the Assembly should also give proper time to the Opposition to raise their issues.