MUMBAI: Former Maharashtra governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, who in November 2019, had administered the oath of the office of deputy chief minister of Maharashtra to Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and present deputy CM Ajit Pawar, along with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Devendra Fadnavis as the chief minister took a swipe at him saying, "No matter how many times you ask Ajit Pawar to become deputy CM, he is ready to become that many times." 

The ex-governor Koshyari who was speaking at a media event last week made the sarcastically loaded statement and then started laughing loudly although he quickly tried to balance his comments and said, "Whenever he came to meet me at the Raj Bhavan, he left after speaking his mind. Personally, I respect him a lot."

Koshyari also went on to praise Ajit Pawar and said that he enjoyed a mass base within his party organization and most MLAs and MPs continue to remain in his favour.

On 23 November 2019, Pawar defected from the NCP and after he submitted a paper with the signatures of NCP's MLAs to then Governor Koshyari to prove the government's majority and in an early morning coup he was sworn in as the Deputy CM along with Fadnavis as his boss. The government however collapsed less than 80 hours later. 

Commenting on the 2019 incident Koshyari said, "Sometimes I feel pity for him on the early morning swearing-in." 

Pawar subsequently returned to the NCP, and on 1 December 2019, it was announced that he would take over as Deputy CM for the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government with Shiv Sena's Uddhav Thackeray as the CM. 

In 2022, the Maha Vikas Aghadi government collapsed due to a split in the Shiv Sena, after their party's rebel Sena faction came together with BJP to form the government with Eknath Shinde as CM, Pawar was then made the Leader of the Opposition.

However, on 2 July 2023, Ajit Pawar again rebelled against party supremo and uncle Sharad Pawar splitting the NCP he joined the BJP-Shiv Sena coalition and was sworn in as Deputy CM for the fourth time while the MLAs who had defected with him were made ministers.

Right now there is a battle between the senior Pawar and Ajit Pawar on ownership of the party. Ajit claims the support of the majority of NCP's MLAs, saying he represents the 'real' NCP. He has also laid claim to the NCP's name and electoral symbol. 

On the other hand, Sharad Pawar has said that he remains the supremo of NCP and has written to the election commission not to concede to the breakaway faction's demands.