Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said that if BJP and Shiv Sena had offered him the post of Chief Minister, he would have brought the entire Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) with him. He said that in politics he is senior to both Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Pawar was speaking on the occasion of the release of the biography of the current Chief Minister 'Yodha Karmayogi - Eknath Sambhaji Shinde'. Shinde and Fadnavis were also present in this program.
"Everyone moved ahead, I was left behind"
In July 2023, Ajit Pawar rebelled against his uncle Sharad Pawar and broke away from the NCP to join the BJP-Shiv Sena government. Ajit Pawar said, "Everyone went ahead and I was left behind." He said that former Chief Minister Fadnavis became an MLA for the first time in 1999 and Shinde in 2004, while he first became a member of the Legislative Assembly in 1990. Pawar quipped, "I jokingly told some people that when you (clearly pointing towards the BJP) told Eknath Shinde that he should come with so many MLAs and he would be made the Chief Minister... then you should have asked me. I would have brought the whole party along." On this, Fadnavis, Shinde and Ajit Pawar himself also start laughing.
After this, Pawar said with artificial seriousness, "Friends, it is a joke, let it be. Whatever happens in life is written in fate. We should keep doing our work."
What did Fadnavis say?
Speaking on the occasion, Fadnavis said that he became the Chief Minister, Leader of Opposition and then Deputy Chief Minister during the same assembly term (between 2019 and 2024) and similarly, Pawar also became Deputy Chief Minister, Leader of Opposition and then Deputy Chief Minister during the same period. Chief Minister Shinde, while speaking to reporters later, expressed confidence that his government will retain power after the assembly elections due to its focus on development and welfare schemes in the last two years.
