Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and NCP chief Ajit Pawar, in a major U-turn ahead of the Assembly polls, stated that industrialist Gautam Ad. was not present at the 2019 meeting between NCP and BJP leaders regarding government formation.
In an interview with .’s Smita Prakash, when asked about his recent statement concerning Gautam Ad.’s presence at a meeting between NCP and BJP leaders, Ajit Pawar said, “I said that he (Gautam Ad.) was not present there… We were at Ad.’s guest house. In state government formation, there is no role for an industrialist. Sometimes we are so busy that, by mistake, I made a statement…”
Notably, in an earlier interview with a news portal, he had claimed that in 2019, when he took the oath with Devendra Fadnavis, a meeting took place between NCP and BJP leaders. “Amit Shah, Gautam Ad., Praful Patel, Fadnavis, and Pawar Saheb… all were there,” he had said in the interview.
Two days after Ajit Pawar’s statement about Gautam Ad.’s present, his uncle Sharad Pawar has stated that the meeting was held at Ad.’s residence in New Delhi but he did not participate in political discussion.
In interview, Ajit Pawar also reiterated his stance on UP CM Yogi Adityanath’s “Batenge Toh Katenge” slogan saying, “I have expressed my disagreement on this in a public rally and media interviews. Some BJP leaders have also expressed the same. ‘Sabka saath, Sabka vikas’ means together with all, development for all…Now, ‘Ek hain toh safe hain…I see it from this angle…”
