MUMBAI: Industrialist Gautam Adani was part of political talks between BJP and the undivided Sharad Pawar-led NCP five years ago, Ajit Pawar said on Tuesday. He was referring to discussions that happened just before he joined hands with BJP and formed a short-lived govt with Devendra Fadnavis as CM and himself as deputy CM in 2019. “Amit Shah, Gautam Adani, Praful Patel, Fadnavis & Pawar Saheb… All were there…,” Ajit Pawar said in an interview to Newslaundry.
When asked about the ideological incompatibility between NCP and BJP and his having gone with BJP in spite of it, he said BJP formed the govt in Maharashtra in 2014 after NCP declared outside support. “When results of the 2014 assembly polls were out, NCP spokesperson Praful Patel declared we will support BJP from outside,” Ajit said.
We do what our seniors tell us to: Ajit on 2019 BJP talks
After 2014 assembly polls, NCP spokesperson Praful Patel had declared support for BJP from outside, Ajit Pawar said, adding NCP later declared the support was not permanent but only for forming govt, resulting in BJP and Sena coming together again.
Asked further on the subject, he said, “we do what our senior functionaries tell us” and referred to the ‘meeting’ before his early morning swearing-in with Fadnavis. “It has been five years, everyone knows where the meeting happened, it was in Delhi at a businessman’s house, everyone knows it. Yes, there were five meetings… Amit Shah was there, Gautam Adani was there, Praful Patel was there, Devendra Fadnavis was there, Pawar Saheb was there… All were there… Everything was decided.” He further said, “Blame for it has fallen on me, and I have taken it. I took blame and made others safe.”
Asked why Pawar Senior then later hesitated and didn’t go with BJP, Ajit said he didn’t know the reason. “Pawar Saheb is a leader whose mind no one in the world can read. Not even our aunty (Sharad Pawar’s wife Pratibha) or our Supriya (Sule).” Sharad Pawar has consistently denied any involvement with power-sharing talks with BJP in 2019. BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis had alleged last year that Pawar had had a series of meeting with BJP between 2017 and 2019.
Asked about him having split NCP, Ajit said there was no question of a split and “one who has the majority controls the party.”
Questioned if the Pawar family could get together again, he said, “I haven’t thought about it now. Right now my focus is on the elections and on Mahayuti winning 175 seats.”
On the matter of ideology, Ajit asked how Shiv Sena had allied with Congress and NCP for 2.5 years during MVA rule. “When we were told to work with them, we did.” He subsequently said, “Don’t ask about ideology. Maharashtra’s politics has changed. Everyone wants power and has kept ideology aside. They want to form and run a govt.”
He denied that charges of corruption made against him had anything to do with him going with BJP. “Allegations were made in 2009 and I went with BJP in 2023,” he said. He further said he was cleared in cases because there was no evidence against him at all. “If I had been guilty, there would have been action against me,” he said.
Ajit went back to Sharad Pawar after the swearing-in in 2019 as he could get the support of only a few NCP MLAs, with most party legislators sticking to Pawar Senior. Later in 2023, he carried a majority of the party’s legislators with him when he joined the Eknath Shinde-led Mahayuti govt.
Proof Maharashtra sarkar is Adani sarkar: Opposition
Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) functionaries reacted sharply to Ajit Pawar’s revelation about industrialist Gautam Adani being part of BJP-NCP talks in 2019, saying it was proof the Maharashtra govt was “Adani sarkar.” Gautam Adani was not available for comment.
Mumbai Congress president and MP Varsha Gaikwad said information had “come from the horse’s mouth” now. In a post on X, she said, “What was Gautam Adani’s locus standi, why was he sitting in the meetings regarding the formation of govt? I reiterate, MVA govt was destabilised only for Adani, so that he could get Dharavi and any other projects he wanted. This is why we say, this is not Maharashtra sarkar, but Adani sarkar. Now, the truth is there for everyone to see.”
UBT Shiv Sena spokesperson and MP Priyanka Chaturvedi stated in a post, “As per Ajit Pawarji, this meeting was in 2019 when Devendra Fadnavis became the shortest duration chief minister in a very early morning ceremony… Adani sarkar for a reason. As per the interview given to a digital platform by a senior minister, Gautam Adani sat through in meetings to decide how to get BJP to power in the state by trying to fix unlikely alliances, it raises some serious questions. Is he a BJP authorised negotiator, has he been given the responsibility to fix alliances, why is a businessmen so keenly and closely working to bring BJP to power at any cost in Maharashtra?..Bol Dharavi Bol.”
BJP did not comment but in the past, Fadnavis has said Sharad Pawar has had a series of meetings with BJP between 2017 and 2019.