Maharashtra’s Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that NCP supremo Sharad Pawar was in talks with BJP to form a stable government after Uddhav Thackeray’s betrayal.
Mumbai,UPDATED: Feb 14, 2023 15:01 IST
File photo of Maharashtra’s Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis | PTI
By Ritvick Arun Bhalekar: A political slugfest broke out between Maharashtra’s Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Nationalist Congress party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar after one of the biggest political revelations by Fadnavis yesterday.
He said that the NCP supremo Sharad Pawar had a discussion to form a stable government with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after Uddhav Thackeray’s betrayal. Oath taken by Ajit Pawar as a Deputy Chief Minister along with him was not a deception, clarified Fadnavis.
In an interview to a regional channel, Fadnavis spilled the beans over a midnight coup which shook the nation when Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar took oath and formed the government on November 23, 2019, which lasted for nearly 80 hours and collapsed after Ajit Pawar resigned.
Devendra Fadnavis, in the interview, elaborated that after Uddhav Thackeray’s betrayal, the BJP got an offer from NCP. “The discussion that took place was with Sharad Pawar. After that, things settled down. But we all have seen how things changed later. That was a kind of betrayal to us. The oath taken by Ajit Pawar was not taken out of a sense of deception. The oath was taken with sincerity. Ajit Pawar will tell us someday how strategies changed and why they were compromised to join hands with Shiv Sena and Congress.”
In response, Sharad Pawar said, “I thought he (Devendra Fadanvis) is a cultured man, a civilized person. I never thought he would make such a statement on the basis of falsehood.”
However, this was not the first time Fadnavis hinted at the differences between the Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar. Earlier, Fadnavis had mentioned that they were in talks with NCP before and post 2019 assembly polls in the state. However, things didn’t work out as it was planned. But for the first time Fadnavis named Sharad Pawar.
Meanwhile, Shiv Sena leader and ex cabinet minister Aditya Thackeray said that he can’t comment much on what Devendra Fadnavis said but “one thing is there that our own people have backstabbed us. However, Sharad Pawar, Ajit Pawar and Congress have stood firmly behind Shiv Sena during crisis.”
Even Congress leader Ashok Chavan defended Pawar saying that the question before us is how Devendra Fadnavis made this revelation on the onset of upcoming civic and local body polls. “Sharad Pawar is a senior leader and a seasoned politician. He does not have the nature to do politics in secret. He always takes his political stand openly. The purpose of Fadnavis’s statement is to create confusion in the run-up to the upcoming by-elections on Kasba and Chinchwad seats in Pune district,” said Chavan.
