Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLA Saroj Ahire who had not openly sided with any of the NCP factions after the split in the party extended her support to Ajit Pawar.
Saroj represents the Deolali legislative assembly constituency. She was present at Nashik railway station to welcome Ajit Pawar, who was allocated the finance and planning ministries on Friday. The minister is in Nashik for the Shasan Aplya Dari event to bring government schemes to citizens.
To remain in power is necessary for development. I am with Ajit Dada. He gave his cooperation for the development of my constituency in the past. I request him to continue the same in future, Ahire said.
Earlier this month, Ajit Pawar rebelled against his uncle and NCP founder Sharad Pawar and joined hands with the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and the BJP to become a part of the government. He and eight other NCP leaders took oath as ministers the same day.