Will expose full truth about forming govt with Ajit Pawar, says Fadnavis

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday said he would bring to light the whole truth about his formation of a short-lived government with Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar in November 2019.

The developments that led to Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar taking oath as chief minister and deputy CM on November 23, 2019, are once again in focus after Fadnavis claimed that NCP supremo Sharad Pawar was in the loop all through.

"All the details will surface gradually, and you all will learn about them. What is in the public domain is only half the truth. I will bring out all the details," Fadnavis told reporters in Mumbai, while responding to questions.

”The moment I say something, more information comes out from the other side. I am the one who will bring out everything,” he added.

Sharad Pawar said on Wednesday cryptically that President's rule in Maharashtra was lifted only after the Fadnavis-Ajit Pawar government was formed.

Uddhav Thackeray would not have become CM until President's rule was lifted, he said.

Fadnavis joining hands with Ajit Pawar had taken the state by surprise, even as the Bharatiya Janata Party and Shiv Sena had fallen out after the 2019 assembly elections.

But the Fadnavis-Ajit Pawar government lasted for only three days as they did not have the numbers, and it was followed by the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress ‘Maha Vikas Aghadi' government.

NCP chief spokesperson Mahesh Tapase, meanwhile, accused Fadnavis and state BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule of trying to mislead people.

Bawankule had claimed on Wednesday that Sharad Pawar had agreed to an alliance with the BJP but did not want Fadnavis as CM.

"The statements of both Bawankule and Deputy CM Fadnavis are misleading in the context of NCP. We have nothing to do with the BJP, we are in absolute sync with all MVA partners and our ideologies are opposed to that of the BJP," said Tapase.