Amid Ajit Pawar defection rumours, MVA scrambles to avert crisis
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut said Uddhav Thackeray and other MVA leaders spoke with NCP chief Sharad Pawar and his daughter Supriya Sule on Tuesday. He dismissed rumours that Ajit Pawar was going to switch sides and join BJP.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut said that the rumour is an attempt to create cracks in the MVA. (File)
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Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut on Tuesday dismissed rumours that Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar and his supporters were switching sides to join the BJP, saying that all the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) leaders, including Uddhav Thackeray, Sharad Pawar and Supriya Sule, spoke on Tuesday morning on the issue. Raut’s remarks were followed by NCP supremo Sharad Pawar saying that a discussion on the rumours was baseless and that no meeting of MLAs has been convened by Ajit Pawar.
“Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray, Supriya Sule, myself and a few other top leaders held a telephonic discussion this morning…The issue was obviously Ajit Pawar,” Raut, who is Sena (UBT)’s chief spokesperson, told The Indian Express after his customary press conference in Mumbai, Tuesday morning.
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Ajit Pawar was not part of the conversation. “We have already had a discussion with Ajit Pawar. This was on Sunday when we were returning to Mumbai by the same plane after a Nagpur MVA rally,” Raut said.
“The defection rumour is baseless. We all leaders spoke this morning. These are rumours being spread to break MVA but this will not happen. There is a cordial relationship between Uddhavji and Ajit Pawarji. People should not spread such rumours about Ajit Pawar unless he himself says something,” Raut added.
The speculation about Ajit Pawar drifting towards BJP, like he did in 2019 by teaming up with Devendra Fadnavis to form a government, was triggered after reports that the Enforcement Directorate had not named him in its chargesheet in a money laundering case related to Jarandeshwar Sugar Mills Pvt Ltd, in which a company linked to the NCP leader and his wife is a majority shareholder.
Raut said that the Ajit Pawar ‘rumour’ was being spread by the BJP to create cracks in the MVA and that the BJP will fail in its attempt. “There is an attempt to break the NCP but so far the party is still intact. Rumours about Ajit Pawar are being spread by the BJP to create fissures in MVA. The rumours are false. Ajit Pawar is a pillar of MVA. This morning, I, Uddhavji and other MVA leaders, including Sharad Pawar and Supriya Sule, had a conversation about it. Ajit Pawar is not going anywhere,” Raut said.
Meanwhile, Ajit Pawar, who reached the Vidhan Bhavan where he is scheduled to meet some NCP MLAs, reportedly refuted the defection rumours. Many MLAs have expressed loyalty to him, including NCP MLAs Anna Bansode from Pimpri, Manikrao Kokate from Sinnar, and Nitin Pawar from Nashik. “I am an Ajit Pawar loyalist. Whatever decision Ajit Pawar takes, I will support him…I did the same thing when he joined hands with BJP in 2019. Till the last, I remained with Ajitdada,” said Bansode. The two other MLAs also spoke on the same lines.
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