 leader Ajit Pawar, who rebelled against his uncle Sharad Pawar last week, on Wednesday said he had never left the party.){kind=link}
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar, who rebelled against his uncle Sharad Pawar last week, on Wednesday said he had never left the party.
“I never left the party. I was with the NCP, I am with the NCP and will remain with the NCP. Media has misreported about me in the last few days and I will react to it at an appropriate time,” Ajit Pawar said ahead of the oath by legislators in the assembly.
Sharad Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule welcomed her cousin Ajit Pawar with a warm hug ahead of Wednesday’s session.
Ajit Pawar had joined Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s Devendra Fadnavis to form a government in the state. Fadnavis was sworn in as chief minister and Ajit Pawar as his deputy on Saturday.
Both Fadnavis and Pawar resigned on Tuesday evening, hours after the Supreme Court ordered that a floor test be conducted on Wednesday.
Ajit Pawar, 60, had said that he allied with BJP “for the sake of farmers”. Over the four days, Sharad Pawar had sent senior leaders such as Chhagan Bhujbal, Jayant Patil, Dilip Walse-Patil and Sunil Tatkare to talk to his nephew and bring him back to the NCP fold.
The claims were rejected by the NCP leadership. On Monday evening, the three parties held a show of strength at a Mumbai hotel and claimed that they had the support of 162 MLAs.