‘Sharad Pawar thinks I am behind NCP split, but…’: Chhagan Bhujbal's reply

Questioning the purpose of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar’s rally a day earlier in Nashik’s Yeola, newly-inducted minister Chhagan Bhujbal on Sunday asked, “Is it because I am an OBC leader?”

In a reply to Pawar senior from his bastion, Bhujbal said that Ajit Pawar was sworn in as deputy chief minister with Devendra Fadnavis in 2019 only after Sharad Pawar dragged his feet after talks with BJP to form the government. What they did by joining the Eknath Shinde government was planned by Sharad Pawar for years, he said.

Also read: Supriya won Lok Sabha election, Praful Patel lost and still...: Sharad Pawar

Sharad Pawar on Saturday in his first rally after the split in the party said that it was a mistake to field Bhujbal from Yeola. Apologising to voters, Sharad Pawar had said he would not commit the same mistake again.

Hitting out at the NCP chief, Bhujbal said that if Sharad Pawar is apologising to the people of Yeola for making me an MLA, then he will have to make an apology in 50 constituencies of the party. “It is also not true that Sharad Pawar made me the candidate of the constituency. I chose Yeola over other options like Majalgaon and Erandol as Yeola was relatively backward and needed leadership,” he said.

Bhujbal said he stood by Shard Pawar in thick and thin and was not part of the discussions with the BJP to join hands to form the government. “I was not even part of the decision-making to change the guards of the party. Pawar saheb thinks I am behind the split, but it is not true,” he said. Bhujbal added that the Congress had offered to make him chief minister in 1999, but he decided to remain with NCP.

The rebel leader said that Sharad Pawar should think why all his senior colleagues like Praful Patel, Ajit Pawar and Dilip Walse-Patil left him. “Pawar saheb was in constant touch with the BJP to form the government since 2014. He compelled the BJP to part ways with Shiv Sena ahead of Lok Sabha elections in 2014 and had decided to join hands with the BJP to form government after the assembly polls. Similarly, in 2019, Pawar saheb held a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and agreed to form a government after the election. But after the results, he backed out. He dragged his feet at the last minute and refused to form thegovernment with the BJP. Fed up with it, Ajit dada was sworn in as the deputy chief minister,” he said. He added that every time Pawar saheb wanted to oust Shiv Sena from the alliance with the BJP.

Attacking Pawar senior further, Bhujbal said that after the Uddhav Thackeray government was toppled in 2022, Sharad Pawar had agreed to join hands with the BJP to form the government. “He had said that he will resign from the post of party president and then the party MLAs were free to make a decision on joining the Shinde government. All MLAs, including Jayant Patil, Rohit Patil and Jitendra Awhad, had signed the resolution of joining the government,” he said.

Also read: I came here to apologise, I trusted wrong people: Sharad Pawar in Nashik

“But suddenly Sharad Pawar changed his mind and withdrew his resignation. He wanted to make Supriya Sule the working president, to which Praful Patel opposed as he was holding the second highest position of deputy president of the party. Patel saheb even threatened to resign from his post. We then decided to appoint both as working president,” Bhujbal added.

When asked about the NCP chief’s offensive on remarks over his age, Bhujbal said that he did not even speak about Sharad Pawar’s age.