Sharad Pawar ditched us at the eleventh hour: Devendra Fadnavis on Maharashtra govt formation

MUMBAI: Former Maharashtra CM and Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis dropped a political bombshell as he claimed that NCP boss Sharad Pawar was a part of the discussion to form the government in November last year.Talking to political analyst Raju Parulekar, Fadnavis said both Ajit and Sharad Pawar were part of the discussion to form the government in Maharashtra. He added that it was the NCP chief who had come up with the proposal.

However, Sharad backed out at the eleventh hour and formed the government with the Shiv Sena and the Congress.  Fadnavis also said that the Supreme Court’s verdict of open ballet for the Speaker’s election went against them during the whole political tussle. “If the verdict was in our favour, we would have proved the majority on the floor of the House,” he said.

When asked about the description of these political developments in a book, Fadnavis said that he has also decided to write a book that will have more details and political bombshells. Talking about the events described in the book, Fadnavis said that the BJP and the NCP had attempted to come together in 2017, but PM Narendra Modi was against ditching old ally Shiv Sena then. 

“In 2017, there were a couple of meetings but things did not work out. The same thing was tried in 2019. Sharad Pawar ditched us despite coming up with the proposal of forming the government. He changed his decision at the eleventh hour,” Fadnavis said. “Then, Ajit Pawar approached Amit Shah and expressed the desire to form the government without his uncle. Ajit Pawar was in favour of forming the government with BJP. He wanted to give the stable government in Maharashtra.”