WATCH: Ajit Pawar enjoys tea with Maha CM Shinde, Fadnavis after meeting Sharad Pawar

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar was seen enjoying evening tea with Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and counterpart Devendra Fadnavis on the same day after he held a meeting with NCP President Sharad Pawar. On July 16, a tea party was organised at the Sahyadri State Guest House in Mumbai for all the political parties ahead of the commencement of the Monsoon Session of the state legislature. However, the opposition parties boycotted the event. 

Ajit Pawar drinks evening tea with Eknath Shinde, Devendra Fadnavis

VIDEO | Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde, Deputy CMs Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar attend a tea party in Mumbai. pic.twitter.com/0603gBO3n6

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) July 16, 2023

Although, the newly-elected Finance Minister of the state along with his camp MLAs reached unannounced the YB Chavan Centre to meet Sharad Pawar to convince him but he didn't attend the event. After the meeting, Praful Patel told reporters, "Today, we met our leader Sharad Pawar. We came to know that Sharad Pawar reached here for a meeting, so without informing him, we reached here. We sought the blessings of respected Sharad Pawar today and requested that NCP should stay united.

Meanwhile, the Opposition camp including Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena faction and Congress also skipped the tea party that was hosted by the Maharashtra government on the eve of the state legislature's monsoon session, starting July 17.

Reacting to this, Maharashtra CM Shinde stated, “As always Opposition boycotted the Tea program of the monsoon session. We will discuss all the issues during the session. More than 210 MLAs are with us (current government)...Opposition must question us if we are doing wrong, questions must be raised for the welfare of the people. It is the duty of the opposition to praise the govt when the govt does something right."

Notably, Maharashtra's newly-inducted Deputy CM Ajit Pawar who joined hands with the Shiv Sena-BJP-led Maharashtra government has got Finance and Planning portfolios after days of negotiations between NCP, BJP and Shiv Sena. Ajit Pawar, Devendra Fadnavis and Eknath Shinde even headed to Delhi for final negotiations over the portfolio allocation and ended the deadlock between the allies. In Delhi, the three leaders met Union Home Minister Amit Shah on July 12 at his residence. 

On July 2, Ajit Pawar split the NCP down the middle as he joined the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance in Maharashtra along with 8 senior MLAs and took oath as the state's deputy chief minister for the fifth time.