Maharashtra Deputy CM Shinde greets Sharad Pawar on his birthday

Mumbai: Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Thursday wished Nationalist Congress Party (SP) President Sharad Pawar on his 84th birthday.

“I am extending good wishes to senior politician of Maharashtra, former chief minister and Union minister Sharad Pawar on his birthday,” Shinde said. Shinde also wished for his long and healthy life.

NCP (SP) chief Pawar on Thursday turned 84 and celebrated his birthday with members of his family and well-wishers, including estranged nephew and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar in Delhi. A four-term Maharashtra chief minister, Pawar also served as Defence Minister and Union Agriculture Minister.

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Pawar formed the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in 1999 after parting ways with the Congress. In July last year, the NCP suffered a split after his nephew Ajit Pawar and several party MLAs joined the Shiv Sena-BJP government. 

In the recently held Maharashtra assembly elections, the Mahayuti alliance of BJP, Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar-led NCP, won 230 seats, restricting the opposition alliance of Congress, NCP (SP) and Shiv Sena (UBT) to 46 seats in the 288-member assembly.