Soon after NCP leader Ajit Pawar extended his support to a Devendra Fadnavis-led BJP government in Maharashtra, party supremo and uncle Sharad Pawar said that his nephew’s decision was a personal one.
Sharad Pawar said that the decision was not that of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and placed on record that they do not support or endorse the decision of Ajit Pawar.
After a tripartite meeting between Shiv Sena, Congress, and NCP, Sharad Pawar had confirmed on Friday that Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray will lead the alliance in Maharashtra.
Speaking on the development, senior NCP leader Praful Patel said that it was not the party’s decision and does not have Sharad Pawar’s support.
In a surprise 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.
Following this, reports emerged that NCP Chief Sharad Pawar was part of discussions for Devendra Fadnavis-led Maharashtra government formation adding that he had given his assent to Ajit Pawar.
Sources quoted by news agency ANI said that no decision of NCP is taken without Sharad Pawar’s assent.
Meanwhile, Ajit Pawar, who is the Legislative Party leader of NCP, has given a letter to Governor BS Koshyari about support of his MLAs to the BJP.
Ajit Pawar said his party decided to go with the BJP to form a stable government in Maharashtra.
“From result day to this day no party was able to form the government. Maharashtra was facing many problems including farmer issues, so we decided to form a stable Govt,” Pawar said after taking oath as Deputy CM.
Meanwhile, Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray are set to jointly address the media at 12.30 pm today.