Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Friday spoke on his short-lived rebellion last year, which saw him briefly joining hands with the BJP.
Referring to the rebellion, he said in the assembly, “Whatever I did, I did it openly. I crossed over and came back. Now, I am firmly in the saddle here.”
Pawar, who also holds the finance portfolio, made the remarks while replying to budget demands.
In an unprecedented turn of events, NCP’s Ajit Pawar in November last year joined hands with the BJP following the Maharashtra election, drawing criticism from within the party as well as allies Shiv Sena and Congress.
Pawar had held the position of the Deputy CM for a brief period with Devendra Fadnavis as the Chief Minister. The government sustained for 80 hours in the state and fell after the NCP leader failed to prove the support of other party legislators before the Governor.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government led by Uddhav Thackeray was formed on November 28. The Shiv Sena joined hands with the Congress and NCP, its traditional adversaries, after its alliance with the BJP collapsed over the issue of sharing the chief ministerial post.
Meanwhile, Ajit Pawar’s speech in the assembly comes as the Madhya Pradesh government led by Kamal Nath is on the verge of a collapse after senior leader Jyotiraditya Scindia quit the Congress on March 10.
Twenty-two Congress legislators in MP, including six ministers, also resigned and joined the BJP along with Scindia.