New Delhi: Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Monday (February 13, 2023) rebuked Devendra Fadnavis for claiming that he had joined forces with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ajit Pawar of the NCP to form a short-term government. supported the dramatic exercise of an overnight coup. in Maharashtra in 2019. The veteran leader strongly denied Fadnavis’ claim and said that he never thought that the BJP leader would base his claim on a “lie”.
Pawar said, “I thought Devendra was a cultured person and a gentleman. I never thought he would resort to lies and make such a statement.”
Earlier, Fadnavis had said that BJP had received an offer from NCP that they want a stable government and both the parties should come together to form the government.
“We had a proposal from NCP that they need a stable government and we should form such a government together. We decided to go ahead and hold talks. Had talks with Sharad Pawar. Then things changed. You See how things have changed.” Fadnavis said during a program organized by a news channel, referring to Ajit Pawar quitting the government after 80 hours.
Fadnavis said, “In all honesty, I want to say that Ajit Pawar took oath with me sincerely…but later his (NCP’s) strategy changed.”
In the 2019 Maharashtra assembly elections, the BJP won 105 seats, while the Shiv Sena, which is in alliance with the saffron party, got 56 seats.
Despite having enough seats to form the government together, the two allies disputed power-sharing “who would get the chief minister’s post” which resulted in Shiv Sena holding talks with the Congress and the NCP. However, with no result, the Center imposed President’s rule in Maharashtra on 12 November.
The Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP then continued talks with Sharad Pawar to form the “Maha Vikas Aghadi” alliance, later announcing that Uddhav Thackeray had been unanimously chosen to lead the new government.
However, the early morning swearing-in ceremony of Fadnavis (as Chief Minister) and NCP leader Ajit Pawar (as Deputy Chief Minister) on 23 November took everyone by surprise.
The ministry lasted for three days, after which Uddhav Thackeray was sworn in as the chief minister.