Following Ajit Pawar's significant change, Maharashtra gets a new opposition leader.

After Ajit Pawar, the previous LoP, joined the Eknath Shinde administration on Sunday as deputy chief minister, the Nationalist Congress Party named Jitendra Awhad as the new LoP.

The news comes as a senior aide to Mr. Pawar claimed that the new deputy chief minister has the support of 36 out of 53 NCP MLAs, with that number perhaps increasing to 46 in the coming days.

The NCP state unit president Jayant Patil appointed Mr. Awhad, an MLA from Mumbra-Kalwa in the nearby Thane district, as chief whip of the party and leader of the opposition in the Assembly. He said, "All the MLAs will have to abide my whip," with an apparent allusion to the defection and disqualification issues that are sure to arise in conjunction with Sunday's developments brought on by a vertical split in the NCP.

When asked about the investigations conducted by the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation into a number of NCP leaders and their role in their decision to change sides, Mr. Awhad responded, "I don't see any other rationale behind these leaders' decisions to join the state administration. There was no requirement to take such action. Those authorities could have taken a seat.

He remarked, "All the MLAs will have to abide my whip," making an apparent reference to the defection and disqualification concerns that are certain to come up in connection with the occurrences on Sunday brought about by a vertical split in the NCP.

I don't see any other justification for these leaders' decisions to join the state administration, Mr. Awhad said in response to a question about the investigations carried out by the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation into a number of NCP leaders and their role in their decision to switch sides. It was not necessary to take such measures. Those officials could have sat down.