MUMBAI: Industrialist Gautam Adani was part of the political talks between BJP and Sharad Pawar-led NCP that did not divide five years ago, Ajit Pawar said on Tuesday. He shared the discussion that took place before he joined the 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. .All were there.. .,” said Ajit Pawar in an interview with Newslaundry.
When asked about the ideological mismatch between the NCP and the BJP and his going with the BJP, he said that the BJP formed the government in Maharashtra in 2014 after the NCP announced outside support. “When the 2014 Assembly polls results came out, NCP spokesperson Praful Patel declared that we will support the BJP from outside,” Ajit said.
We do what our seniors say: Ajit in 2019 BJP talks
After the 2014 Assembly polls, NCP spokesperson Praful Patel announced support for the BJP from outside, Ajit Pawar said, adding that the NCP later declared that its support was not permanent but only to form the government, prompting the BJP and the Sena to come back.
Asked further on the matter, he said, “we are doing what the senior officials told us” and referred to the pre-swearing-in ‘meeting’ in the morning with Fadnavis. “It’s 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 is there… Everyone is there. He said again, “It’s wrong, because I’ve been accepted, and I’ve taken the blame and made others safe.”
Asked why Pawar Senior then hesitated and did not join the BJP, Ajit said he did not know why. “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 involvement in joint talks with the BJP in 2019 BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis had alleged last year that Pawar had several meetings with the BJP between 2017 and 2019.
Asked about whether he had split the NCP, Ajit said there was no question of a split and that “people in the majority control the party.”
When asked if the Pawar family can get together again, he said, “Now I don’t think about it. Now my focus is on the election and Mahayuti won 175 seats.
On ideology, Ajit asked how Shiv Sena was allied with Congress and NCP for 2.5 years during the MVA government. “When we were told to work with them, we did.” He then said, “Don’t ask about ideology. Politics of Maharashtra has changed. Everyone wants power and has put aside ideology. They want to form and run the government.
He denied that the corruption charges leveled against him had anything to do with him joining the BJP. “The allegations were made in 2009 and I joined the BJP in 2023,” he said. He further said that he was acquitted in the case as there was no evidence against him. “If I do something wrong, there will be action against me,” he said.
Ajit returned to Sharad Pawar after his swearing-in in 2019 as he could only get the support of a handful of NCP MLAs, with most of the party’s MPs sticking with Pawar Senior. In 2023, he brought the majority of MPs when he joined the Mahayuti government led by Eknath Shinde.
Proof of Maharashtra sarkar is Adani sarkar: Opposition
Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) functionaries reacted strongly to Ajit Pawar’s revelation of industrialist Gautam Adani being part of the BJP-NCP talks in 2019, saying it was proof of the Maharashtra government as an “Adani sarkar”. Gautam Adani was unavailable for comment.
Mumbai Congress president and MP Varsha Gaikwad said information was “coming from the horse’s mouth” these days. In a post on X, he said, “What is the locus standi of Gautam Adani, why is he sitting in a meeting about the formation of the government? I repeat, the MVA government is unstable only for Adani, so that he can get Dharavi and other projects that he wants. That’s why we say , this is not the Maharashtra sarkar, but the Adani sarkar. Now, the truth is there for everyone.”
UBT Shiv Sena spokesperson and MP Priyanka Chaturvedi said in a post, “According to Ajit Pawarji, this meeting was in 2019 when Devendra Fadnavis was the shortest chief minister in a very early morning ceremony… Adani sarkar for reasons. As per the interview given to the platform digital by senior minister, Gautam Adani attends meetings to decide how the BJP will come to power in the state by trying to fix an unlikely alliance, this raises some serious questions. Is he a legitimate negotiator of the BJP, has he been given responsibility for fix the alliance, why the businessmen who worked hard and worked hard to bring BJP to power in Maharashtra?..Bol Dharavi Bol.
The BJP did not comment, but earlier, Fadnavis had said that Sharad Pawar had several meetings with the BJP between 2017 and 2019.
