Whatever I Am Is Because Of Sharad Pawar, Says NCP Rebel Ajit Pawar. WATCH

Ajit Pawar is attending a party workers' meeting in Mumbai

Ajit Pawar in Mumbai on Wednesday.

Addressing an NCP workers' meeting in Mumbai, Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar said that his political achievements to date are because of party chief and his uncle Sharad Pawar. "Whatever I am is because of Sharad Pawar. I learnt working under him. We make governments for the development of people," Ajit Pawar said. However, he also took at the 83-year-old NCP patriarch, saying: "In BJP, leaders retire at 75."

He said that their leaders started working in 1965. "Many people were not even born back then. In 1978, our leaders became state ministers and in 1975 our leaders became ministers at the Centre. Maharashtra has been with us since then." Ajit Pawar said: "In the 2004 Vidhan Sabha election, NCP had more MLAs than Congress. Had we not given Chief Minister post to Congress at that time, till date, Maharashtra would have had a Chief Minister only from Nationalist Congress Party."

He said that in 2017, too, the party held a meeting at 'Varsha' (the official residence of the Chief Minister of Maharashtra). "On the orders of the senior leaders of the party, Chhaggan Bhujbal, Jayant Patel, I, and several others had gone there. Several leaders from BJP were also there. There were discussions among us over Cabinet portfolio allocation and positions of Guardian Ministers. But our party took a step back," the Deputy CM said.

No Problem In Allying With BJP: Praful Patel 

NCP leader Praful Patel said: "When we could accept the ideology of Shiv Sena, then what is the objection in going with BJP? We have joined this alliance as an independent entity. Mehbooba Mufti and Farooq Abdullah went with BJP in Jammu and Kashmir and they are now part of the joint opposition. I went to the joint opposition meeting in Patna with Sharad Pawar, and I felt like laughing when I saw the scene there. There were 17 opposition parties there, 7 of them have only 1 MP in the Lok Sabha and there is one party that has 0 MPs. They claim they will bring change... This decision (of joining NDA) we have taken is for the nation and our party and not for personal gain"