Missing Keys, Forced Entry: New NCP Office Inauguration by Ajit Pawar Faction Goes Unexpected

Days after taking oath as Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister, NCP veteran Ajit Pawar and his supporting MLAs received a unique welcome into the party office after they were locked out with missing keys.

Ajit Pawar, who recently joined the Maharashtra government with the Shinde-BJP camp, was set to inaugurate a new NCP office near the state secretariat but the leaders were left locked out as the keys went missing.

Visuals emerging from the scene showed party leaders seen sitting on chairs as they were locked outside the doors and attempts were made to track down the keys at the earliest.

Later, the youth leaders were seen trying to break down the lock so that they can enter the bungalow and prepare for the inauguration ceremony after the major coup.

According to reports, once they could enter inside, they faced a new problem: the doors of rooms inside were locked too.

Notably, the bungalow chosen by Ajit Pawar as the new office of the NCP faction earlier belonged to Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Ambadas Danve.

Meanwhile, NCP leader Praful Patel in a recent revelation said 51 out of the 53 party MLAs had told NCP chief Sharad Pawar that the possibility of joining hands with the BJP should be explored after the MVA government in Maharashtra collapsed last year.

On Sunday, senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar led a vertical split in the party to become deputy chief minister in the one-year-old Shiv Sena-BJP government, shocking his uncle Sharad Pawar, who founded the outfit 24 years ago after quitting the Congress.

Besides Ajit Pawar, eight other NCP MLAs, including Chhagan Bhujbal and Hasan Mushrif, were sworn in as ministers in the Eknath Shinde cabinet.