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- Published: October 4, 2023 15:38
New Delhi: Maharashtra Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday dropped a political bombshell over the imposition of President’s rule in Maharashtra in 2019, soon after the Assembly elections.
“Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) President Sharad Pawar was the chief architect of 2019 President’s rule in the state,” Fadnavis disclosed in exclusive conversation with India Today.
His explosive charges against the state’s tallest & octogenarian leader is set to create a major stir in the political landscape and elicit wave of reactions from rival parties.
Notably, the state saw a brief President’s rule, soon after the Maharashtra Assembly elections in 2019 after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged as single largest party. As differences cropped up within the saffron camp, comprising of Shiv Sena & BJP and this led to dissolution of their alliance, thus precipitating a political crisis.
In exclusive conversation during India Today Conclave 2023, Fadnavis today said that it was Sharad Pawar who first approached the BJP and proposed for an alliance between BJP & NCP for government formation. He revealed that Pawar’s strategy was to impose President’s rule in state for sometime, during which the party cadre would be ‘convinced’ to join hands with BJP and after consensus on both sides, a BJP-NCP govt could be sworn-in.
Breaking: Deputy chief minister @Dev_Fadnavis drops a bombshell, says it was #NCP president #SharadPawar who had floated the idea of imposing President’s rule in #Maharashtra post the stalemate after 2019 assembly polls. Fadnavis said after the #ShivSena under #UddhavThackeray…
— Dhaval Kulkarni (धवल कुलकर्णी) 🇮🇳 (@dhavalkulkarni) October 4, 2023
Fadnavis also disclosed that NCP chief later backed out on this arrangement and hence the deal fell through. The series of disclosures came when Fadnavis was asked about the ‘secret dealings’ of overnight coup that led to formation of short-lived govt in the state.
In November 2019, Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar took everyone by surprise as they took oath as Maharashtra CM & deputy CM respectively in an pre-dawn ceremony on November 23. However, within 75-80 hours, Ajit Pawar quit the post and went back to parent NCP, lead by senior Pawar.