Everyone knows what happened after the swearing-in of Devendra Fadnavis as the chief minister in 2019, NCP president Sharad Pawar said on Wednesday, throwing light on the mystery of the early morning event that took Maharashtra by surprise.
“Everyone knows what happened after the swearing-in. President’s Rule was lifted. Had the (early morning) swearing-in not happened, would President’s Rule have been lifted? Would Uddhav Thackeray have become the chief minister thereafter?” Pawar asked, while speaking to reporters at Pimpri-Chinchwad.
The statement comes days after Maharashtra’s Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis made a sensational claim that the swearing-in ceremony, which also included Ajit Pawar, happened with the consent of Sharad Pawar. He had said that the decision was taken only after consulting senior Pawar who was on-board.
These revelations have stirred a new storm in Maharashtra politics. While questions were being raised about the timing of the statement by Fadnavis, Pawar’s remarks — and the smile thereafter — have only raised suspicions further.
In November 2019, Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar formed one of the shortest-lived governments in the history of Maharashtra. The early morning swearing-in ceremony had come in the middle of finalised talks of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA). Within hours after the rebellion by nephew Ajit Pawar, Sharad Pawar had pulled back many MLAs and put his weight behind the MVA.
“It is technically a fact that the government can’t be formed till President’s Rule is lifted. Till now, it was speculation that it was Pawar’s conspiracy. But now, it has been confirmed due to his statement that this was very much done by Sharad Pawar to lift the President’s Rule in the state. This adheres to the image of Sharad Pawar in Maharashtra politics. He is known as unpredictable. This behaviour suits the tags that have been applied to him till now,” said senior journalist Uday Tanpathak.
However, senior journalist Sanjay Jog disagreed. “After Fadnavis’ revelation that the swearing-in was with Sharad Pawar’s consent, today Pawar too broke his silence on the entire episode. He has thrown another googly by saying what he has said. Neither has he admitted to Fadnavis’ statement, nor has he given his consent. This clearly shows that Pawar does not want to go with Fadnavis’ disclosure but, at the same time, wanted to bring to everyone’s notice that the early morning swearing-in ceremony had turned out to be an opportunity for MVA to pursue his political plans.
“That paved the way for the formation of the MVA government. He doesn’t give any kind of approval to Fadnavis’ statement. This has definitely given room to political speculations but you can’t say this is political backstabbing. This is Pawar’s style of functioning. He will try to give his observers a point to take an argument further.”
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