Sharad Pawar?s nephew Ajit Pawar new Maharashtra deputy CM

Mumbai : Within hours of the Congress naming Pritviraj Chavan as the new Maharashtra chief minister, its ally Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Wednesday named Ajit Pawar as the new deputy chief minister.

Pawar, Union Agriculture minister and NCP supreme Sharad Pawar?s nephew, replaces Chhagan Bhujbal.

Bhujbal had said that he wanted to continue as the deputy chief minister, but the party leadership insisted that a new chief minister implied that the old Cabinet was dissolved and hence, new leadership was necessary.

?When the Chief Minister changes, the entire cabinet and ministries are also dissolved. Now that the Chief Minister has changed, we will also have to decide on a Legislative Party leader…new ministers,? Madhukarrao Picchad, state NCP president, said.

As many as 50 of NCP?s total 60 MLAs supported Ajit Pawar as the new deputy chief minister at a meeting here on Wednesday afternoon.

Pawar, an experienced administrator with 20 years of active politics in the state behind him, is also viewed as a potential heir of Sharad Pawar in the party.