Maharashtra political drama: Jitendra Awhad named new opposition leader in assembly

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) appointed Jitendra Awhad as Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly. The appointment was necessitated by incumbent LoP Ajit Pawar's move to join the Eknath Shinde government as deputy chief minister. Pawar's move caused a vertical split in the NCP.

As per a PTI report, 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. «All the MLAs will have to abide my whip,» PTI quoted him as saying in an apparent reference to defection and disqualification. According to political pundits, the issue of disqualification is bound to come up in the wake of Sunday's unexpected developments.

The new leader of opposition also weighed in on the speculations that the NCP leaders switched sides because of the ongoing ED and CBI probes against them. The probes might have been the reason behind this switching of 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. Those leaders could have sat aside,» he told the news agency. «These leaders should not forget the party made them ministers in the past 25 years.