Several NCP MLAs, whose support prompted Ajit Pawar to join hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to break the long-standing deadlock in Maharashtra over government formation, 13 of them have reportedly joined back the NCP, placing the government in deep water.

According to sources, 13 MLAs have returned to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) while four including, Daulat Daroda, Nitin Pawar and Anil Patil, are with Ajit Pawar at the moment.

The 13 MLAs who returned to the party fold and pledged their loyalty to chief Sharad Pawar were — Sunil Shelke, Sandeep Kshirsagar, Rajendra Shingne, Sunil Bhusara, Manikrao Kokate, Dilip Baner, Sunil Tingre, Dhananjay Munde, Prakash Solanki, Majalgaon Sanjay, Bansode-Udgir Narhari Jhirav and Babasaheb Patil.

The BJP’s political masterstroke in Maharashtra stirred the state politics even as the NCP, Shiva and Congress were on the final stage of signing pact to form a “stable” government in the state.

On Saturday morning, Maharashtra woke up to Devendra Fadnavis as the state’s chief minister and Ajit Pawar as his deputy.

As the news about Pawar’s unexpected move spread, local NCP workers gathered at the party’s district office in Naupada area here and shouted slogans against him. The protest was led by NCP leader in Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) Milind Patil.

“Pawar has betrayed NCP chief Sharad Pawar, the party and the citizens of Maharashtra,” Milind Patil said. A similar protest was also held at Kalyan in the district.

Dilip Bankar and Manikrao Kokate, NCP MLAs from Nashik district, tweeted separately saying that they were kept in dark about the oath-taking ceremony. Both the MLAs said that they were with the NCP and expressed solidarity with its president.

“I have not gone against the party’s position. I reached Raj Bhavan after Ajitdada Pawar told me so. Followed order as he is legislature party leader. “I had no clue what was going to happen there. I am with the party. I will never change the decision once taken,” Manikrao Kokate tweeted, tagging Sharad Pawar and MP Supriya Sule.

Meanwhile, Dilip Bankar said that he too had reached Raj Bhavan after being told to do so by Ajit Pawar and was “clueless” about what was in store there.

Earlier, five NCP MLAs Rajendra Shingne (Buldhana), Sandeep Kshirsagar (Beed), Sunil Shelke (Maval), Sunil Bhusara (Vikramgad), Narhari Zirwal (Dindori) and Sunil Tingre (Wadgaon-Sheri) returned to the NCP fold after attending the oath-taking ceremony.

Parli MLA Dhananjay Munde, who was among those who had attended the ceremony at Raj Bhavan, turned up at the ongoing meeting of NCP MLAs convened by the Pawar senior.

Earlier, at a press conference addressed by Sharad Pawar, Shingne said, “When I reached Raj Bhavan, I found 8 to 10 MLAs already there. None of us realised why we were brought there. After the swearing-in, we went to meet (Sharad) Pawar saheb,” he said.

Sharad Pawar had said that his nephew Ajit Pawar, by virtue of being the NCP legislature party leader, possessed the list of all the 54 MLAs with names, signatures and constituencies for internal party use. The MLAs who have defected stand to lose the membership of the assembly, and when byelections are held, the Congress-NCP-Sena alliance will ensure that they are defeated, Pawar said.

In the 288-member Assembly, the BJP has 105 MLAs, the Shiv Sena 56, the NCP 54 and the Congress 44. The halfway mark is 145.

The coup of Ajit Pawar virtually sabotaged the prospects of the Shiv Sena, the NCP and the Congress forming a government with Uddhav Thackeray as chief minister of the prospective alliance.

(With inputs from PTI)