Mumbai: The Nationalist Congress Party on Thursday attacked the state Bharatiya Janata Party for attempting to create confusion on the dawn swearing-in ceremony of the short-lived two-man Maharashtra government in November 2019.
NCP chief spokesperson Mahesh Tapase took strong umbrage at BJP state President Chandrashekhar Bawankule’s statements against NCP supremo Sharad Pawar over the issue.
After the hung verdict following the October 2019 Assembly elections, the then Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari had sworn-in BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis as the CM and NCP’s Ajit Pawar as the Deputy CM on November 23, 2019, but their regime crashed in barely 80 hours.
Five days later on November 28, 2019, the Maha Vikas Aghadi formed the government with Shiv Sena’s Uddhav Thackeray as the CM and he was in power until his government was toppled in June 2022.
Interestingly, the wily Pawar said with a smile that if the Fadnavis-Ajit Pawar duo wasn’t sworn-in, then the President’s Rule in the state would not have ended and Thackeray could not have become the CM after five days.
Amid the ongoing sharp verbal duels on the November 2019 episode, Bawankule contended that Pawar was reportedly amenable to having a NCP-BJP alliance but minus Fadnavis as the CM.
A few days ago, Fadnavis had claimed that Pawar Sr. was fully aware of the developments which enabled him (Fadnavis) to become CM for the second time.
But, Tapase said: “Both, Bawankule and Fadnavis are making misleading statements in the NCP’s context and attempting to confuse the peoples’ minds.”
Pawar Sr.’s grand-nephew Rohit Pawar said that “the political games and strategies of Pawar Saheb are way beyond the understanding of these people” and urged the BJP to concentrate on the burning issues of today instead of raising the ghosts of the past.
Fadnavis added with a mysterious smile that one after the other, the various facets of that November 2019 ceremony are unfolding before the masses. “You know half of what has happened, the rest of the political drama will also be revealed soon,” he told media persons on Thursday.
Tapase emphasised the NCP had nothing to do with the BJP then, now or ever in the future and the party is in full sync with the MVA, warning that the government of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-Fadnavis would fall soon.
–IANS