Had Meetings With Adani, Amit Shah, Sharad Pawar To Plan NCP's Crossover With BJP: Ajit Pawar

Maharashtra: Ahead of the Maharashtra assembly elections following the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) split, party president and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar revealed that he had attended meetings with the Pawars, Amit Shah, Gautam Adani, and others in attendance.

In a conversation with Newslaundry’s Sereenivasan Jain, Ajit Pawar addressed his party’s aligning itself with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) camp.

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Amidst allegations by the opposition of the ruling BJP colluding with Gautam Adani, Pawar stated that there were meetings attended by the Pawars, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, industrialist Adani, and others to plan the NCP becoming an ally for the BJP. The mention of the billionaire does lead to questions of how deep the business tycoon’s influence runs in Maharashtra politics.

When asked about why Sharad Pawar refused to join the BJP camp, the deputy chief minister stated, “No one can tell what is on Pawar saahab’s mind… Neither aunty nor Supriya (Sule).”

While the NCP has fielded 56 candidates, his uncle Sharad Pawar’s NCP (SP) has fielded 87 candidates.

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Pawar expressed confidence in the Mahayuti alliance to secure over 175 seats in the upcoming assembly polls. The Mahayuti alliance consists of BJP and chief minister Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena.

Elections to the 288-member Maharashtra assembly are scheduled to take place on November 20 (Wednesday) with counting scheduled for November 23 (Saturday).