Mumbai: State BJP President and MLC Chandrashekhar Bawankule on Tuesday charged Uddhav Thackeray and NCP President Sharad Pawar of backstabbing Devendra Fadnavis in 2019. Bawankule was responding to Fadnavis statement he made on Monday.
More than three years after he teamed up with Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar in an overnight coup to form a short-lived government in Maharashtra, Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis on Monday said the dramatic exercise had NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s backing.
“We had an offer from the NCP that they needed a stable government and we should form such a government together. We decided to go ahead and hold talks. The talks happened with Sharad Pawar. Then things changed. You have seen how things changed,” Fadnavis said, referring to Ajit Pawar quitting the government 80 hours later.
Gold Rate
Monday 31March 2025
“In all fairness I want to state that Ajit Pawar took oath with me with honesty… but later on their (NCP’s) strategy changed,” Fadnavis said, during an event organised by TV9 news channel.
Responding to Fadnavis statement, Bawankule said, “Fadnavis always speaks truth. I have known Fadnavis for the last 30-32 years. He never compromises for the sake of power. In 2019, Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena and BJP fought Assembly elections together. But Thackeray aligned with NCP and Congress to become Chief Minister. That was an unnatural alliance. But Nature took its revenge. Now, BJP’s and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena formed the government. It is a natural alliance,” Bawankule asserted.
The Maharashtra BJP tweeted, “Sharad Pawar should not forget one thing that because Fadnavis is a wise person, he remained quiet so far. It was you who had given a message that a BJP-NCP government could be formed. You wanted something else hence you took a somersault and changed the decision,” it said.
Further targeting the former Union Minister, the BJP asked, “What kind of argument you had with Ajit Pawar a night before the swearing in ceremony? Ajit Pawar had come to Silver Oak (senior Pawar’s residence in Mumbai) to meet you before going to Raj Bhavan. Your morning tweet on that day was also a lie. Ajit Pawar had told you categorically to come for the swearing in ceremony.”
