Shillong, April 18: Growing rumours that Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar will join the BJP in less than a year, after rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde joined the saffron party, and put an end to over a week of political unrest in Maharashtra, hint at another upheaval.
Sanjay Raut, the leader of the Shiv Sena (UBT), claimed on Sunday that NCP chief Sharad Pawar recently told Uddhav Thackeray that his party would never join forces with the BJP, even if someone took an individual decision to do so. However, Sharad Pawar’s nephew Ajit Pawar and two NCP MLAs said they would remain loyal to their leader Ajit Pawar no matter what ‘decision’ he takes in the coming days.
Such rumours have been fueled even by the senior NCP leader’s abrupt decision to postpone an event in Pune at the same time that two prominent BJP figures from Maharashtra hurried to Delhi.
The opposition MLAs made this statement in the midst of speculation that the leader of the opposition in the assembly and four-time deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar might defect to the state’s ruling BJP in light of a Supreme Court petition seeking the disqualification of 16 Shiv Sena MLAs led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
The rumours that Ajit Pawar had convened a meeting of MLAs for Tuesday, however, were denied as incorrect.
Nearly 34 of the 53 members of the Opposition’s legislature have reportedly shown internal support for Ajit Pawar’s decision to join the BJP and join the Shinde-Fadanvis administration.