Pawar denies hand in Ajit Pawar’s rebellion, Raut claims on trust vote day MahaVikasAghadi will have 10 more

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar on Monday clarified that he had no role to play behind his nephew Ajit Pawars rebellion. Speaking to newspersons at Karad in Sangli district, the NCP president accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of misusing official machinery right from Center to Governor in Maharashtra to form the government. He reiterated that the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress led government shall come to power soon in Maharashtra.

The NCP president questioned the validity of Ajit Pawar’s claim of NCP support to the BJP led government. Pawar said that such decisions are not taken individually by any individual, but collectively at the party level. He further stated that the BJP has formed the government without proving the majority numbers. The NCP president further reiterated that the NCP shall not support the BJP government.

Replying to queries, Pawar said that who enjoys the majority will be clear on the trust vote day. He added that he had seen several such crisis during his life time and expressed confidence that he shall find a way out. Commenting upon senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal meeting Ajit Pawar, he pleaded ignorance and added that he has not spoken to his nephew.

Asked whether the delay in talks led to the situation, the NCP president argued that when the Sena announces that it will do a complete farm loan waiver and when you take charge of the government then you have to decide upon which loan component to waive off, take into account the debt burden on the state and then decide. He said that three parties were in discussion with each other and they had to set aside contentious issues between them and work out a Common Minimum Program (CMP).

Later, speaking to newspersons in Mumbai, senior Sena leader Sanjay Raut claimed that the BJP had offered the Chief Ministers post for two and half years to Ajit Pawar. He accused the BJP of cheating the President of India and the Governor of Maharashtra over the majority issue. Referring to the trust vote, Raut quipped “on the trust vote day we shall have 10 more MLAs than them”. He added that the MahaVikasAghadi has the majority numbers on paper.

He further alleged that the BJP has four supporters – the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Income Tax (IT) department and the Police. Raut further sarcastically remarked “if BJP is left without power, it will go mad. Hence we will ask our Health minister to open Mental Asylums all over the state for them”.

Meanwhile, early in the morning NCP and Shiv Sena leaders led by Jayant Patil and Eknath Shinde went to Raj Bhavan to submit a fresh list of their supporting MLAs and stake claim to form the government. On the other hand, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar proceeded towards Mantralaya to take charge of their respective posts and ministry.