Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar distanced himself from his nephew Ajit Pawar, who had earlier this morning been sworn-in as the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra. Bharatiya Janata Party’s Devendra Fadnavis took oath as the chief minister at 8 am on Saturday even as the NCP along with the Congress and the Shiv Sena were at the final stages of forming the government.
Pawar said that some MLAs of his party were cheated into attending the oath ceremony.
At a press conference with Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, Sharad Pawar presented three MLAs who had attended the swearing-in ceremony and said that they were certain the BJP-led government does not have the numbers to clear the floor test. “We back the Shiv Sena,” Sharad Pawar said. “They won’t be able to prove majority, and after that our three parties will form the government,” he said.
The MLAs who attended the ceremony this morning said that Ajit Pawar had acted independently and they were all with the NCP, Shiv Sena and the Congress.
Uddhav Thackeray said that this was a “political surgical strike” by the BJP.
