Mumbai, Jul 2: NCP leader Ajit Pawar, who took oath as the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra, on Sunday said his party decided to become part of the Eknath Shinde government for the development of the country, and praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership.

Maintaining that there was no split in the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), he said they would contest all the future elections on the NCP's name and symbol.

All the elected representatives (of the party) have supported the decision to join the government, Pawar said.

Defending his decision to share power with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), he said, "If we can go with the Shiv Sena, then we can go with the BJP as well. The same thing happened in Nagaland as well."

"Overall and comprehensive development was taken into account. We have a vast experience of the administration, we can utilise it for the good," he said.

The cabinet portfolios will be announced in a couple of days and we will immediately start working on it, Pawar said.

Pawar took oath as the deputy chief minister on Sunday, while eight MLAs of the party took oath as ministers in the Shinde-led government earlier in the day.

Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.



Agartala (PTI): Tipra Motha chief Pradyot Debbarma said his party, an ally of the BJP, will organise a rally on September 26 to protest the attacks on minorities in Bangladesh.

Debbarma made the announcement on Saturday after the party's youth wing YTF gave a deputation to the Assistant High Commissioner of Bangladesh in Agartala, seeking the safety of minorities in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.

"This is not the first time that minorities, including Bengali Hindus and indigenous people, were attacked after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina-led government in Bangladesh. Minorities were attacked in Noakhali and Comilla districts too. Maharaja Bir Chandra Library was set on fire and books that were 300 years old were gutted," he said.

Urging the Centre to take up the issue, Debbarma said the time has come to raise it at the United Nations.

"We will stage a massive rally to protest the attack on minorities in Bangladesh on September 26. Our youth organisation YTF will also join the rally to raise voice against the atrocities in the neighbouring country," he said.

Debbarma alleged that people of minority communities who have been living in Bangladesh for hundreds of years were being attacked in a systematic way so that their land could be grabbed.

Tipra Motha is a part of the BJP-led government in Tripura, which shares a border with Bangladesh.