The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday by calling him the "biggest patron of corruption" after Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar, along with eight others from the party, joined the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government.
While Pawar was sworn in as the deputy chief minister by Governor Ramesh Bais at a ceremony held in the Raj Bhawan in Mumbai, the eight other NCP leaders took oath as ministers.
Those who were sworn in as ministers are Chhagan Bhujbal, Dilip Walse Patil, Hasan Mushrif, Dhananjay Munde, Aditi Tatkare, Dharmarao Atram, Anil Patil and Sanjay Bansode.
Reacting to the development, AAP national spokesperson Sanjay Singh hit out at the Prime Minister on Twitter. "Narendra Modi is the biggest patron of corruption in the country," the Rajya Sabha MP said in a tweet in Hindi.
Two days after the Prime Minister gave a guarantee of action against corruption, Pawar was appointed as the deputy Chief Minister in the Shiv Sena-BJP coalition government in Maharashtra and Bhujbal also inducted into the cabinet, Singh said.
"Today all TV channels will condemn Modiji," he claimed.
Sharad Pawar undeterred, claims Raut
Meanwhile, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Sunday said Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar is undeterred by the split in his party and can start afresh.
In a tweet, Raut said, "I just spoke with NCP Sharad Pawar. He said he is firm and people's support is behind us. We can make a fresh start with Uddhav Thackeray."
Raut said people of Maharashtra will not tolerate such a "circus", an apparent reference to government formation through vertical splits in political parties, for long.
