'Party is one family': Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar calms nerves in NCP

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar tried to calm nerves within his Nationalist Congress Party on Tuesday by saying that "the party is one family" and supremo Sharad Pawar looks after the party operations. He was addressing the media alongside disgruntled MLA Prakash Solanki, who withdrew his resignation after meeting senior party leaders.

"New year starts on a good note for us. I wish everyone a happy, prosperous new year. The matter was internal and has been solved internally. I had a word with Balasaheb Thorat and he said that he discussed the portfolio allocation with party high command. After he comes back (from Delhi), CM Uddhav will meet and issue a statement," Ajit Pawar said.

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Allocation of offices and govt houses to ministers under discussion

Ajit Pawar also informed that the senior leaders of the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance will meet and discuss the allocation of offices and government houses to ministers on the basis of seniority. He jovially remarked that he will have his office on the sixth floor of the Mantralay building in Mumbai alongside CM Uddhav Thackeray and state chief secretary. Maharashtra had no deputy CM under the previous BJP government.

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NCP breathes a sigh of relief

In a huge sigh of relief for NCP on Tuesday, Prakash Solanki – the legislator from Majalgaon constituency, has decided not to resign. This comes after his long meeting with senior leaders of the party such as Ajit Pawar, Jayant Patil, and Dhananjay Munde. Earlier, Solanki had decided to submit his resignation as an MLA to Speaker Nana Patole and stay away from politics.

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Cabinet expansion

A total of 12 Shiv Sena, 14 NCP, and 10 Congress MLAs were administered the oath of office in the Maharashtra Cabinet expansion on Monday. This includes Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, Jitendra Awhad, spokesperson Nawab Malik, senior legislator Hasan Mushrif, newly-elected MLA Dhananjay Munde, Abdul Sattar, former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan and CM Uddhav Thackeray’s son Aaditya. Following this, there were multiple reports of legislators being disgruntled in NCP, Sena, and Congress for not being given cabinet berths.

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