Sharad Pawar had made up his mind in 2019 to form the government with BJP but had a “change of heart” after Ajit Pawar’s swearing-in with Devendra Fadnavis, senior NCP leader Praful Patel has alleged. In a scathing interview to CNN-News18, the senior Ajit Pawar group leader spoke elaborately on the sequence of events in 2019 and thereafter, noting the NCP’s flip-flops with BJP since 2014.
“I was party to several rounds of conversations with the BJP. We were discussing that we should come to power — in 2014 and 2019. In 2014, we had supported the BJP from outside. We got their Speaker elected even when they did not have adequate numbers,” Patel told CNN-News18 on the campaign trail in Bhandara.
“There was a change of heart. I don’t know why Sharad Pawar did so. This happened quite a few times,” he said, referring to the party’s possible alliance and thereafter backing off, at least two times.
‘Alliance with Shiv Sena Unacceptable’
Patel said the NCP’s alliance with Shiv Sena came as a shocker and added that the party was criticised the most by the then-Uddhav Thackeray led outfit. He said that the Sena’s stance during the riots after the Babri Masjid demolition and its divisive politics in Mumbai had been completely antithetical to the NCP’s position till then.
Even after the NCP joined the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), the party was unhappy because of the way it was treated, Patel said. “The rank and file were not very happy with MVA. There was no partnership (with Uddhav Thackeray). We are talking of getting an equal political share. That wasn’t happening. So, we spoke with BJP,” he said.
When asked what Sharad Pawar said about the group’s decision to form an alliance with the BJP, he said, “A leader can have a change of heart. But there has to be appreciation of what the rank and file want. Today, the political landscape has changed. BJP is a different party from the Jan Sangh. It is inclusive. There has been no communal problem in the last 10 years,” he added.
When asked about the ideological differences with the BJP, he said: “If we can talk to the BJP in 2014 and 2019, then the ideological lines are blurred. We can’t talk of ideology alone.”
Launching an attack on Sharad Pawar, he said: “Pawar saahab did not rightly gauge the pulse of the party workers and the elected members last time. That’s a fact.”
Elaborating on the NCP’s decision to go with Shiv Sena in 2019, he said: “There was no reason why we should have tied up with the Shiv Sena and abandon a possible tie-up with BJP which we had already discussed with them in 2019.”
‘Ajit Pawar was let down’
Explaining the 2019 swearing-in fiasco, Patel said: “Ajit Pawar took oath with Fadnavis (in 2019). There can be no smoke without fire. There was an understanding with the BJP. BJP was categorical that it hadn’t offered chief ministerial position to Uddhav Thackeray. We came together. President’s Rule was lifted. But then we went the other way with Shiv Sena. Ajit Pawar was let down. We didn’t have a choice but to exit eventually from the government.”
Uddhav as CM for 5 years?
When asked if the NCP agreed to give the entire five-year chief ministership to Uddhav Thackeray, he said: “I asked Pawar sahab the same thing. They have 56, we have 54. Let them have first 2.5 years. It even works if it is 3 years [for them] and 2 years for us. I spoke with Uddhav. He stayed mum. Pawar sahab also didn’t give any answer. In 2004 as well, NCP had lost the opportunity to wear the CM’s crown. We would have made our party much stronger. The party felt let down. We didn’t get a chance at all. Also, Uddhav did not respond to our party workers the way a chief minister should have responded. There was brewing discontent.”
What about the MVA?
Predicting the decimation of MVA, Patel said: “It isn’t an alliance based on merit but on compulsion. When we were in Congress, there was suffocation, so we left. Congress has no LoP in Parliament and only one MP in Maharashtra. The alliance won’t last long.”
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