NCP appoints Awhad as Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra assembly

The NCP appointed Jitendra Awhad as Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly after incumbent LoP Ajit Pawar joined the Eknath Shinde government as deputy chief minister on Sunday.

The MLA from Mumbra-Kalwa in neighbouring Thane district said NCP state unit president Jayant Patil had appointed him chief whip of the party and LoP in the assembly.

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“All the MLAs will have to abide my whip,” he asserted in an apparent reference to defection and disqualification angles that are bound to come up in connection with Sunday’s developments brought about by a vertical split in the NCP.

Queried on ED and CBI probes against some NCP leaders and its role in them switching sides, Awhad said, “I don’t see any other reason behind these leaders deciding to join the state government. There was no need to do such a thing.” He said these leaders should not forget the party made them ministers in the past 25 years. Now, they are deserting their leader (83-year-old Sharad Pawar) in his twilight years, he added.

(With agency inputs)