Nationalist Congress Party's senior leader Ajit Pawar on Sunday joined Eknath Shinde-led government and was sworn-in as the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra.He will share the post with BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis.The move comes days after Ajit Pawar expressed his desire to step down as Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly. A total of nine NCP leaders, including Chhagan Bhujbal, Dhananjay Munde, Dilip Walse Patil took oath as ministers along with Ajit Pawar at a ceremony in Raj Bhawan.
Earlier in the day, Ajit Pawar met some party leaders and MLAs at his official residence in Mumbai. NCP chief Sharad Pawar was not aware of the meeting."I do not know exactly why this meeting has been called but, being the leader of the Opposition, he [Ajit Pawar] has the right to call a meeting of MLAs. He does that regularly. I don't have much detail about this meeting," Pawar had said.