BJP’s attempt to form government with Ajit Pawar had one benefit, it ended President Rule in Maharashtra: Sharad Pawar

NEW DELHI: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar said on Wednesday that the Bharatiya Janata Party’s attempt to form a government with his nephew and NCP leader Ajit Pawar had one benefit as it ended the President’s Rule in Maharashtra in 2019. Addressing a press conference at Pimpri Chinchwad, Pawar said had the exercise not happened, the President’s Rule would have continued in the state.

चिंचवड विधानसभा मतदारसंघातील महाविकास आघाडीचे उमेदवार नाना काटे यांच्या प्रचारानिमित्त आज रावेत इथे उपस्थितांशी संवाद साधला. चिंचवड विधानसभा निवडणुकीकडे सर्वांचे लक्ष आहे. त्याचे कारण अलीकडे राज्यात काही बदल झालेत. #चिंचवडविधानसभापोटनिवडणूक pic.twitter.com/lmLnWehrU9

— Sharad Pawar (@PawarSpeaks) February 22, 2023

He was replying to a question about Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fandavis’s claim that the formation of the government with Ajit Pawar had the backing of NCP chief Sharad Pawar.

“There was an attempt to form a government. One benefit of that exercise was that it helped to lift the President’s Rule in Maharashtra and everyone has witnessed what happened after that,” said Pawar.

ज्यांच्या हातात देशाची सत्ता आहे असे पक्ष ज्या राज्यात त्यांची सत्ता नाही तिथे सत्तेचा गैरवापर करून आपल्या हाती सत्ता घेण्याचा प्रयत्न करत आहेत. याचे दुर्दैवी उदारहण महाराष्ट्र राज्य आहे. निवडणूक आयोग ही संस्था देशातील सर्वात महत्त्वाची संस्था आहे. pic.twitter.com/fyLxSYYRgL

— Sharad Pawar (@PawarSpeaks) February 22, 2023

Asked if he was aware of the formation of such a government and why Ajit Pawar is tight-lipped on the issue, the NCP chief wondered if there was a need to speak about it. “I just said that had this kind of exercise not happened, would the President’s Rule have been lifted? Had the President’s Rule not been lifted, would Uddhav Thackeray have been sworn in as the chief minister?” he asked.

तिचा कारभार निस्पृह असला पाहिजे ही माफक अपेक्षा आहे. पण निवडणूक आयोगाने निकाल घेतला ज्यातून उद्धव ठाकरे यांच्या हातातील पक्ष आणि त्यांची निशाणी दुसरे घेऊन गेले. असं कधी घडलं नव्हत. अनेक पक्षात मतभेद झाले पण कोणी पक्ष घेऊन गेले नाही. pic.twitter.com/haPpw2TH7c

— Sharad Pawar (@PawarSpeaks) February 22, 2023

In one of the biggest political surprises in Maharashtra, then Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari had sworn in Fadnavis as chief minister and Ajit Pawar as deputy CM in an early morning ceremony on November 23, 2019.

But the government lasted just three days, after which Uddhav Thackeray was sworn in as chief minister with the backing of the NCP and Congress.

Source: Press Trust of India