Mumbai, February 14: A political slugfest broke out between Maharashtra's Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Nationalist Congress party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar after one of the biggest political revelations by Fadnavis yesterday.
He said that the NCP supremo Sharad Pawar had a discussion to form a stable government with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after Uddhav Thackeray’s betrayal. Oath taken by Ajit Pawar as a Deputy Chief Minister along with him was not a deception, clarified Fadnavis.
In an interview to a regional channel, Fadnavis spilled the beans over a midnight coup which shook the nation when Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar took oath and formed the government on November 23, 2019, which lasted for nearly 80 hours and collapsed after Ajit Pawar resigned.
Devendra Fadnavis, in the interview, elaborated that after Uddhav Thackeray's betrayal, the BJP got an offer from NCP. “The discussion that took place was with Sharad Pawar. After that, things settled down. But we all have seen how things changed later. That was a kind of betrayal to us. The oath taken by Ajit Pawar was not taken out of a sense of deception. The oath was taken with sincerity. Ajit Pawar will tell us someday how strategies changed and why they were compromised to join hands with Shiv Sena and Congress.”
In response, Sharad Pawar said, "I thought he (Devendra Fadanvis) is a cultured man, a civilized person. I never thought he would make such a statement on the basis of falsehood."
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