Gautam Adani part of BJP-NCP talks? Ajit Pawar clarifies amid row, Sharad Pawar breaks silence

Ajit Pawar's remarks triggered a major political controversy ahea dof Assembly elections in Maharashtra.

A day after a massive political row over his sensational claim that industrialist Gautam Adani was part of a meeting between leaders of the NCP and BJP to explore the possibility of forming a government in 2019, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said on Wednesday that his statement had been misconstrued.

“There seems to be some misunderstanding. He (Gautam Adani) is not even distantly related to the incident. I even said in the morning that you people are misrepresenting (the facts). He has nothing to do with politics,” he told reporters in Beed.

"Everybody knows where the meeting took place… Everyone was there. Let me tell you again. Amit Shah was there, Gautam Adani was there, Praful Patel was there, Devendra Fadnavis was there, Ajit Pawar was there, Pawar Saheb (Sharad Pawar) was there," Pawar earlier told The News Minute in an interview.

Ajit Pawar had also claimed that his decision to form an alliance with the BJP in 2019, that saw him take oath as Deputy CM in 2019 only to resign within 80 hours, had Sharad Pawar’s sanction.

On his part, Sharad Pawar admitted to meeting the industrialist as well as Union Home Minister Amit Shah but denied any such discussions. “Had such a thing happened, you would have seen the BJP-NCP government being formed,” he said in an interview with a Marathi news channel, adding that there is no truth to the claims made by his nephew Ajit Pawar.

He said he met some Union ministers and some industrialists after the 2019 election and was accompanied by Ajit Pawar, but it was not to discuss government formation. “Ajit Pawar was with me on some of these occasions. The idea was that he would get to know them,” he said.

Sharad Pawar further said he met Shah “three to four times” but all his meetings were to discuss issues pertaining to Maharashtra and the agriculture sector. "We need to have good communication with the decision-makers. However, just because I keep good dialogue with them does not mean that some conspiracy was being hatched,” he said.

On his visit to Adani’s residence, Pawar said, “I have also visited Ratan Tata, Kirloskars and other industrialists’ residences. I still go to their residences,” adding that Adani has major investments in Maharashtra and plans to introduce some projects.

“When I was the CM, he introduced some power generation projects in Gondia-Bhandara, which I inaugurated. The central govt gave him some contracts for coal mines. I attended an event related to the Gondia project. At that time, BJP was not in power,” Sharad Pawar said, adding that it is necessary to maintain a good relationship with industrialists who wish to invest in Maharashtra.

Soon after Ajit Pawar's remarks, Congress and the Shiv Sena (UBT) slammed the BJP and the ruling Mahayuti and accused it of conspiring to topple the Maha Vikas Aghadi government.

"According to Ajit Pawar, our government was brought down by industrialists. There were frequent meetings between Gautam Adani, Amit Shah, and Devendra Fadnavis. Meetings were held to bring down the government. Ask Ajit Dada whether it was Sharad Pawar or Adani who split the party," Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said.

“When you think nothing can be more shocking about this nexus between Modi & Adani, a new example of brazenness comes out. How can a business man be officially allowed to be part of the negotiations to dethrone governments?” Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said.