Ajit Pawar, the leader of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and a former deputy chief minister of Maharashtra, denied on Tuesday that he had the support of some of his party’s MLAs in his presumed attempt to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Ajit Pawar strongly refuted the news claims on Monday in a tweet, writing: “There are some media reports saying that I have convened a meeting of the (NCP) MLAs on Tuesday. This is completely false. I wish to clarify that I have not called a meeting of my party MLAs and office bearers.”
The NCP heavyweight’s denial of the story in a local newspaper comes just days after Chandrashekhar Bawankule, the Maharashtra chief of the BJP, dismissed rumours tying the former to the ruling saffron camp, stating he was unaware of any such move.
He further stated that he hasn’t had any discussions about this with the Sharad Pawar-led NCP.
“I don’t have any information about him joining the BJP or having talks with anyone in the party. He has not held any discussions with me,” Bawankule said.
Sanjay Raut, a Rajya Sabha MP and leader of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Bal Thackeray) stated on Tuesday, “These are baseless rumours. I spoke with him (Ajit Pawar) and other (NCP) leaders this morning.”
“If those spreading such canards think that they can weaken the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) by resorting to such ploys, then they are mistaken,” he added.
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