‘Sharad Pawar is speaking half-truth’, says BJP; Sena differs, says saffron party was desperate to form govt
A day after NCP chief Sharad Pawar said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made an offer for an alliance with his party, the Maharashtra unit of BJP said Pawar is “speaking only the half-truth and according to his convenience”. Meanwhile, Shiv Sena said it was aware that BJP was desperate to form the government in Maharashtra.
“What Pawar said is only the half-truth and he is speaking as per his convenience,” state BJP spokesperson Keshav Upadhaye told this paper Thursday. Upadhaye said party leader and former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has already spoken about what had transpired after the 2019 Assembly results. “We do not want to speak about it again,” he said.
At a book launch function in Pune Wednesday, Pawar, in an interview session with Loksatta editor Girish Kuber, had revealed that Modi had made an offer to him for an alliance with his party after the 2019 Maharashtra election. Pawar said he had rejected the offer.
NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Loksatta editor Girish Kuber at the launch of the book in Pune on Tuesday. (Express photo: Ashish Kale)
Shiv Sena spokesperson Sanjay Raut said, “Since Sharad Pawar is saying, it has to be true. During that time, BJP had become desperate to form the government in Maharashtra. They were trying to establish contact with different people, including Ajit Pawar and our people (Sena leaders). I was aware that Pawar had received the offer (from BJP) and he had also spoken to us about this. At that time, we were not hiding anything from one another. Who was meeting whom and discussing, we knew everything. There was transparency among us and BJP was probably not aware of this. Because of this transparency, they could not form the government.”
Besides Pawar, Raut is considered one of the architects of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government which came into being after the Shiv Sena approached the Congress and NCP for an alliance. The Sena fell out with BJP over the Chief Ministerial post. While Sena insisted it was promised the position by BJP, the latter kept saying that no such promise was ever made.
Praveen Darekar, Opposition leader in the legislative council, said, “Whatever happened between the two leaders, only they know it. Let’s not dig out the past. The MVA government is now in place. Alliances happen in politics, there is nothing new about it.”
Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who had taken an early morning oath with BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis, refused to comment. “It will not be appropriate for me to comment,” he said.
During the interview session Wednesday, Sharad Pawar rubbished allegations that he had prodded Ajit Pawar to join hands with BJP. “If I had done so, then Ajit Pawar would not have done an incomplete job,” he said. After joining hands with BJP, Ajit Pawar did a U-turn as Sharad Pawar, Supriya Sule and other family members succeeded in convincing him about the futility of joining hands with BJP.
