Amid the political mayhem over government formation in Maharashtra, newly-appointed Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar called on Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at the latter’s official Mumbai bungalow, ‘Varsha’ late night on Sunday.
The closed-door meeting came hours after Ajit Pawar and his uncle and NCP chief Sharad Pawar were engaged in a Twitter war.
Ajit Pawar in a tweet insisted that he was still with the NCP and that Sharad Pawar was their leader. He further said that the NCP-BJP will form a stable government in Maharashtra.
After nearly 36 hours of being sworn-in as the Deputy CM, he thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, top ministers and other Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders for their wishes.
In less than an hour, Sharad Pawar shot back ruling out any possibility of backing BJP, something that his nephew claimed in his tweets.
“There is no question of forming an alliance with BJP. NCP has unanimously decided to ally with Shiv Sena and Congress to form the government,” he tweeted.
Senior Pawar also termed Ajit Pawar’s tweet as false and misleading done in order to create confusion and false perception among the people.
The meeting between Ajit Pawar and Fadnavis was their first formal meeting after they were sworn-in by Governor BS Koshyari early on Saturday morning.
Though the reasons behind the meeting are not yet clear, it is believed that they discussed the nitty-gritty of government formation, the hearing of the case before the Supreme Court on Monday, the upcoming floor test in the Assembly and future political strategy.
Besides, certain senior BJP leaders were also present amid speculation that the saffron party was willing to give a significant number of cabinet posts, chairmanships of state corporations and other benefits to the legislators supporting Ajit Pawar.
However, after the meeting, a late night tweet from the CMO Maharashtra said the CM and the deputy CM discussed various measures for rain-hit farmers.
The BJP has already made it clear that it will make all efforts to win the floor test with a thumping majority.
In a stunning political development, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Devendra Fadnavis was sworn in as the new Chief Minister of Maharashtra and Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar as the new Deputy Chief Minister early on Saturday.
The surprise move came at a time when deliberations between Congress, NCP, and Shiv Sena had seemingly reached the final stage on Friday.
Following the unexpected twist, the Shiv Sena, the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party on Saturday moved the Supreme Court, seeking a floor test within 24 hours to avoid further horse-trading and “illegal manoeuvres” in Maharashtra.
The petition sought quashing of Maharashtra Governor BS Koshyari’s decision inviting BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis to form the government on Saturday morning as unconstitutional, arbitrary, illegal, void-ab-initio, and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India.
However, the apex court on Sunday said it is not aware of the order of the Maharashtra Governor over government formation in Maharashtra, as they deferred the hearing for Monday.
In its hearing, the Supreme Court directed the Centre to produce the letters of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis claiming majority and that of the Governor inviting to form the government.