Fadnavis sticks to claim that his government with Ajit Pawar had NCP chief's approval

Sharad Pawar has publicly denied Devendra Fadnavis's claim

Sticking to his statement that Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar had backed his plan to form a government with nephew Ajit Pawar, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadanvis today said his statement was "100 per cent true" and that he was not lying.

In one of the biggest political surprises in Maharashtra, the then Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari swore in Fadnavis as the chief minister and Ajit Pawar as deputy CM in an early morning ceremony on November 23, 2019.

But that government lasted just three days, after which Uddhav Thackeray was sworn in as the chief minister.

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Fadnavis on Monday said his oath-taking ceremony with Ajit Pawar in 2019 had Sharad Pawar’s backing.

The NCP chief, however, stoutly denied Fadnavis' claim and said he never thought the senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader would base his assertions on falsehood.

On Wednesday, Fadnavis told reporters here, "Whatever I said was 100 per cent true, and there was no lie in it. I won't comment today on the various interpretations that are being derived. I want to speak more on this, and I will speak at an appropriate time, and that time is yet to come."

Asked why following his statement, Ajit Pawar was "not reachable", Fadnavis said that he cannot speak on behalf of the NCP leader. "He should decide what he has to say," Fadnavis added.

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The deputy CM had earlier said, "We had an offer from the NCP, that they needed a stable government, and that we should form such a government together. We decided to go ahead and hold talks with them. The talks happened with Sharad Pawar. Then things changed. You have seen how things changed."

Meanwhile, asked about the Assam government advertisement claiming the sixth 'Bhimashankar' jyotirlinga was situated in the northeastern state, Fadnavis said nobody could make this claim.

"Bhimashankar is ours (Maharashtra's). It is a jyotirlinga. Nothing is going to happen if somebody makes a claim. Our Bhimashankar has been known as a jyotirlinga for centuries," he said.

The Shiva temple at Bhimashankar near Pune is widely believed to be the sixth of the 12 Jyotirlingas in the country. According to Hindu mythology, the places from where Lord Shiva emerged are known as jyotirlingas.