'Went From CM To Oppn Leader': Fadnavis Opens Up On Sharad Pawar's 2019 'Betrayal' At Ideas Of India

Devendra Fadnavis, while speaking on the Maharashtra political crisis in 2019, said that BJP had gone into an agreement with Sharad Pawar's NCP and the talks were finalised.

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday revealed what led to the dramatic turn of events in 2019 when he took oath as the Chief Minister and resigned three days later.

Speaking at the ABP Network's Ideas of India Summit, Devendra Fadnavis spoke about what unfolded after the 2019 assembly elections, his equation with Eknath Shinde and why Ajit Pawar rebelled against NCP stalwart Sharad Pawar.

Fadnavis, while speaking on the Maharashtra political crisis in 2019, said that BJP had gone into an agreement with Sharad Pawar's NCP and the talks were finalised. However, the elder Pawar betrayed Fadnavis at the last moment. 

"We talked to Sharad Pawar regarding this (alliance) and he agreed. In order to talk regarding the coalition, Sahrad Paward nominated Ajit Pawar. We finalised everything with Ajit Pawar. Sharad Pawar Ji then gave his mandate to everything that we had finalised," Fadnavis said.

"But I don't know why Sharad Pawar backed out at the last moment," he added.

Fadnavis, however, added that Ajit Pawar took a stand and came into the BJP alliance during that time.

"At that time Ajit Pawar took a stand. Ajit Pawar said he was put at the front and all the decisions were made, but at the end, you (Sharad Pawar) are backing out. I cannot do this backstabbing. So, he came with us," Fadnavis said.

He further said that the NCP supporters also wanted their party to come with the BJP because they knew that only the BJP could form a stable government. 

"But the Supreme Court judgement came and we cannot continue the alliance further. Therefore, Ajit Pawar went back and I went from becoming Chief Minister to the opposition leader," the deputy CM added.

Fadnavis also talked about his good relations with Eknath Shinde and the reason behind Uddhav Thackeray ending long ties with the saffron party.

"I had good relations with Eknath Shinde for a very long time. He has worked with me as a minister. We had good relations," he said.

"When Uddhav Thackeray was taking decisions, Shinde was against him during that time. But Uddhav Ji wanted to become the chief minister, so he didn't hear Eknath Shinde," he added. 

In 2019, BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis took oath as Maharashtra chief minister with the support of NCP's Ajit Pawar. However, he resigned three later in a controversial turn of events, leading to the formation of Maha Vikas Aghadi government of Shiv Sena-Congress-NCP.