Mumbai / ‘Not NCP’s decision’, says Sharad Pawar as nephew Ajit Pawar takes oath as Maharashtra deputy CM

Reacting to the surprise of NCP’s Ajit Pawar taking oath as deputy chief minister of Maharashtra on Saturday, party chief Sharad Pawar said that it wasn’t party’s decision to tie up with BJP but his nephew’s personal one.

Ajit Pawar's decision to support the BJP to form the Maharashtra Government is his personal decision and not that of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
We place on record that we do not support or endorse this decision of his.

— Sharad Pawar (@PawarSpeaks) November 23, 2019

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Devendra Fadnavis and Nationalist Congress Party’s (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar were sworn in as the state’s chief minister and deputy chief minister respectively by Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari at the Raj Bhavan in Mumbai.

The BJP staked claim to form the government on Saturday morning after which the governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari asked the Centre to withdraw the rule in Maharashtra.

Until late last night the Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena were holding talks to form the next government in Maharashtra. Ajit Pawar was present in this meeting. It was widely expected that the three parties will hold a press conference to announce the modalities of their government.

“I took this decision as the discussions of the alliance of the three parties Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena was not ending. There was a need to give a stable government in Maharashtra,” said Pawar, nephew of NCP chief Sharad Pawar.