Adani, Sharad Pawar, Shah and Praful were at BJP-NCP talks 5 years ago: Ajit | India News – Times of India

MUMBAI: Industrialist Gautam Adani was part of the political talks between the BJP and the undivided Sharad Pawar-led NCP five years ago, Ajit Pawar said on Tuesday. He was referring to discussions that took place just before he joined hands with BJP and formed a short-lived government with Devendra Fadnavis as CM and himself as deputy CM in 2019. “Amit Shah, Gautam Adani, Praful Patel, Fadnavis & Pawar Saheb.. They were all there…,” Ajit Pawar said in an interview with Newslaundry.
When asked about the ideological incompatibility between NCP and BJP and that he had gone for BJP despite this, he said that BJP had formed the government in Maharashtra in 2014 after NCP declared outside support. “When the results of the 2014 Assembly elections were out, NCP spokesperson Praful Patel stated that we will support the BJP from outside,” Ajit said.
We do what our seniors tell us: Ajit on BJP talks in 2019
After the 2014 Assembly elections, NCP spokesperson Praful Patel had extended support for the BJP from outside, Ajit Pawar said. NCP added that NCP later stated that the support was not permanent but only for formation of government, which led to BJP and Sena coming together again.
When asked further on the subject, he said, “we do what our higher officials tell us” and referred to the ‘meeting’ before taking oath before Fadnavis in the early morning. “It has been five years, everyone knows where the meeting took place, it was in Delhi, at a businessman’s house, everyone knows. Yes, there were five meetings… Amit Shah was there, Gautam Adani was there, Praful Patel was there, Devendra Fadnavis was there, Pawar Saheb was there… They were all there… Everything was decided.” He further said: “The blame for that fell on me, and I took it upon myself. I took the blame and made sure others were safe.”
When asked why Pawar Senior later hesitated and did not join forces with BJP, Ajit said he did not know the reason. “Pawar Saheb is a leader whose mind no one in the world can read. Not even our aunt (Sharad Pawar’s wife Pratibha) or our Supriya (Sule).” Sharad Pawar has consistently denied any involvement in power-sharing talks with BJP in 2019. BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis had last year claimed that Pawar had had a series of meetings with BJP between 2017 and 2019.
When asked if he had split the NCP, Ajit said there was no split and “someone who has majority controls the party.”
When asked if the Pawar family could get back together, he said, “I haven’t thought about it now. Right now my focus is on the elections and Mahayuti getting 175 seats.”
On ideology, Ajit asked how Shiv Sena had allied with Congress and NCP for 2.5 years during MVA rule. “When we were told to work with them, we did.” Then he said, “Don’t ask about ideology. The politics of Maharashtra have changed. Everyone wants power and has left ideology aside. They want to form and lead a government.”
He denied that the allegations of corruption leveled against him had anything to do with him joining BJP. “Allegations were made in 2009 and I joined BJP in 2023,” he said. He further said that he was acquitted in cases because there was no evidence against him at all. “If I had been guilty, action would have been taken against me,” he said.
Ajit returned to Sharad Pawar after swearing-in in 2019 as he could get the support of only a few NCP MLAs, with most party legislators sticking with Pawar Senior. Later in 2023, he carried with him a majority of the party’s lawmakers when he joined the Eknath Shinde-led Mahayuti government.
Evidence Maharashtra sarkar is Adani sarkar: Opposition
Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) officials reacted sharply to Ajit Pawar’s revelation about industrialist Gautam Adani being part of the BJP-NCP talks in 2019, saying it was proof that the Maharashtra government is “Adani sarkar” was. Gautam Adani could not be reached for comment.
Congress president and Mumbai MP Varsha Gaikwad said the information was now coming “from the horse’s mouth”. In a post on I repeat, the MVA government was destabilized only for Adani so that he could get Dharavi and all the other projects he wanted. This is why we say this is not Maharashtra sarkar, but Adani sarkar. Now the truth is visible to everyone.”
UBT Shiv Sena spokesperson and MP Priyanka Chaturvedi stated in a message, “According to Ajit Pawarji, this meeting took place in 2019 when Devendra Fadnavis became the shortest Prime Minister in a very early morning ceremony… Adani sarkar for a reason. According to the interview given by a senior minister to a digital platform, where Gautam Adani attended meetings to decide how the BJP could come to power in the state by trying to forge unlikely alliances, this raises some serious questions. Is he a BJP authorized negotiator, has he been given the responsibility of building alliances, why is a businessman working so sharply and closely to bring the BJP to power in Maharashtra at any cost? Bol Dharavi Bol.”
BJP did not comment, but in the past Fadnavis has said that Sharad Pawar had a series of meetings with BJP between 2017 and 2019.