Ajit Pawar takes a jibe at Eknath Shinde on Deputy CM post, his comeback breaks everyone into laughter | VIDEO

Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde and NCP leader Ajit Pawar exchanged a rare banter during the press conference of Mahayuti leaders ahead of the oath-taking ceremony, scheduled to be held on Thursday.

Amid intense work on finalising allocations of portfolios in the next Mahayuti government, Maharashtra politics witnessed an exchange of banter between Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde and National Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar during a press conference held on Wednesday, a day ahead of the oath-taking ceremony of the Devendra Fadnavis government.

Pawar took a jibe at Shinde, when the Shiv Sena leader responded to a media query on whether he is taking oath as deputy chief minister, by saying that he (Pawar) will be taking oath, and Shinde may take time and decide by the evening. "Main to lunga, yeh (Shinde) sham tak time lenge (I'm going to take oath as deputy CM but Shinde will take time to decide)," Pawar said. Everybody broke into laughter during the press conference. 

The chuckles propelled Shinde to react by saying, "Subah me bhi lene ka aur sham ko bhi lene ka anubhav hai inhe (Pawar) (He has experience of taking (oath) in the evening as well as in the morning). Shinde's prompt pun triggered another round of laughter. 

Shinde's comment was a veiled reference to Pawar's oath as Maharashtra Deputy CM at around 5 am on November 23. This was a rare oath-taking event in the early morning. The hush-hush ceremony at the Raj Bhawan drew criticism, however, the government lasted only 80 hours as Pawar took a U-turn, compelling Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to resign.

Fadnavis elected leader of Maharashtra BJP legislature party; set to become CM

Earlier in the day, Fadnavis was unanimously elected as the Maharashtra BJP legislature party leader at its meeting here on Wednesday, paving the way for his appointment as the chief minister.
 
The swearing-in ceremony will be held in Mumbai on Thursday in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Fadnavis' name was finalised for the top post at the BJP's core committee meet held here ahead of the legislature party meeting, sources said. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sudhir Mungantiwar said leaders of the Mahayuti coalition will meet Governor C P Radhakrishnan at 3.30 pm on Wednesday to stake a claim to form government. Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman, former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani were present at the BJP legislature party meeting held at the Vidhan Bhawan in Mumbai.
 
Also read: Fadnavis on Maharashtra Deputy CM post for Shinde: 'Requested him that he remains with us'