Mumbai: Sharad Pawar’s revised autobiography ‘Lok Majhe Sangati’, which focuses on events after 2015, has revealed that Sharad Pawar had made it clear to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2019 that no truck could run with the BJP . The book, which was released recently, revealed that the Bharatiya Janata Party was keen on a post-poll alliance with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in 2019, but Sharad Pawar was against it.
In his book, Pawar also admitted that informal talks took place between some leaders of the NCP and the BJP after the 2019 assembly elections in Maharashtra when there was uncertainty over government formation.
He said, “BJP started exploring whether there could be any possibility of an alliance with NCP, but I was not involved in the process. It was only the wish of the BJP and no formal talks took place with the BJP. But informal talks took place between selected leaders of both the parties.
The Maratha Bahubali said that since the NCP was not interested, it decided not to go with the BJP. It was necessary to tell this clearly to the BJP. Accordingly, he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the winter session of Parliament in November 2019, Pawar wrote in the book.
The NCP leader met PM Modi on November 20, 2019 and apprised him of farmers’ distress in Maharashtra after President’s rule was imposed in the state. Pawar had then refused to comment on what transpired between him and Modi as there was uncertainty over government formation in the state and the NCP, the undivided Shiv Sena and the Congress were negotiating an alliance.
“I met PM Modi and told him very clearly that there cannot be any political truck between us (BJP and NCP). But while I was saying this, it has to be kept in mind that there was a section of leaders in the party who wanted ties with the BJP,” Pawar said in his book.
Pawar’s nephew Ajit Pawar broke ranks and was sworn in as Deputy Chief Minister in the short-lived Devendra Fadnavis government. Pawar claimed that even during Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s time, the BJP wanted an alliance with the NCP which was in its initial stages.
Pawar said that even in 2014, the BJP tried to include the NCP in its fold. The BJP was the single largest party in the state after the 2014 assembly elections, but fell short of a majority. Shiv Sena, BJP, Congress and NCP contested the assembly elections separately.
“I was not present during the 2014 talks with the BJP, but I was aware of it. But suddenly, the BJP severed its ties with the Shiv Sena, which also became part of the government. This made our leaders realize that it is not proper to trust BJP.
On Tuesday, at the launch of the book, Pawar came as a surprise when he announced that he would step down as chief of the NCP, the political outfit he founded in 1999.