Maharashtra: 2 Dy CMs for the first time as Ajit Pawar, Fadnavis share post

Mumbai: The political developments of Sunday involving Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar has ensured Maharashtra has two deputy chief ministers for the first time.

Ajit Pawar was sworn in as deputy CM for the fifth time on Sunday, while eight of his colleagues were inducted as ministers in the Eknath Shinde government.

Shinde had formed a government on June 30 with the support of the Bharatiya Janata Party, whose senior leader Devendra Fadnavis was sworn in as deputy CM.

Pawar was deputy CM between November 11, 2010 and September 25, 2012, then again from December 7, 2012 and September 28, 2014.

He was then sworn in as deputy CM between November 23 and 26 in 2019 for a period of less than 80 hours when he joined hands with Devendra Fadnavis post the Assembly polls and break up of the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance.

He returned to the NCP and was deputy CM in the Maha Vikas Aghadi government between December 30, 2019 and June 29, 2022.

Senior Congress leader Ratnakar Mahajan said the deputy CM post was created in Maharashtra for the first time when the state had a Congress (O) and Congress (Indira) government.

Vasantdada Patil was chief minister from congress (O) and Nasikrao Tirpude was the state's first deputy CM from March 5, 1978 to 18 July that year.

Sundarrao Solanke was deputy chief minister in the PDF government headed by Sharad Pawar between 1978 and 1980, while Ramrao Adik was deputy CM in the Vasantdada Patil government from 1983 to 1985.

Gopinath Munde was deputy chief minister from 1995 -99 in the Shiv Sena-BJP government.

Others who were deputy CM of the state were NCP's Chhagan Bhujbal (1999-2003 and then again from 2008 to 2010), Vijaysinh Mohite Patil (2003-2004) and RR Patil from 2004 to 2008.