Ajit Pawar’s swearing-in without Sharad Pawar’s knowledge, both times: Supriya

Supriya Sule confirmed that the swearing-in of Ajit Pawar as Deputy Chief Minister on both November 23, 2019, and July 2, 2023, occurred without Sharad Pawar's knowledge, setting to rest speculations that the NCP founder-president had knowledge of what had happened.

“Both these (events) took place without the knowledge of Pawar saheb,” said Sule, the daughter of Sharad Pawar and NCP’s National Working President.

Ajit Pawar, the nephew of Sharad Pawar, had rebelled and broke ranks with the Maha Vikas Aghadi and joined the NDA coalition.

It's worth noting that Devendra Fadnavis had previously claimed that the NCP had engaged in discussions with the BJP on multiple occasions about joining the government.

In 2019 when the Vidhan Sabha polls threw up a fractured mandate and the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance broke, then Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari administered oath to Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar as Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister, respectively, on the morning of 23 November, 2019. However, that government caved in within 80 hours.

Following this, on November 28, 2019, Uddhav Thackeray, the President of the Shiv Sena, became the Chief Minister, heading the Maha Vikas Aghadi government, which was a coalition of the Shiv Sena, NCP, and Congress. Ajit Pawar subsequently took on the position of Deputy Chief Minister.

On 20 June 2022, Shiv Sena’s Eknath Shinde raised a banner of revolt against Thackeray and the MVA government collapsed. On 30 June, Koshyari administered oath to Shinde and Fadnavis as Chief Minister, and Deputy Chief Minister, respectively.

Ajit Pawar later became Leader of Opposition. However, on 2 July 2023, he switched over to the NDA camp and became the Deputy Chief Minister of the state.

Later justifying his stand, Ajit Pawar referred to instances in 2014, 2017, 2019 and 2022 when his party had engaged in negotiations with the BJP.

Speaking to reporters in Pune on Thursday, Sule said that the November 2019 and July 2023 developments took place when Sharad Pawar was in the dark. “Sharad Pawar is very firm on this stand,” she said.