Maharashtra Elections 2024 Live News: Sharad Pawar spills the beans on 'secret' meeting hosted by Gautam Adani

NCP (SP) president Sharad Pawar on Thursday confirmed that industrialist Gautam Adani hosted a meeting of leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the undivided Nationalist Congress Party in 2019 but did not participate in the political discussions.  Pawar Sr. told a news portal that the meeting took place at Adani's residence in Delhi. Besides him, those present at the meeting included Gautam Adani, Amit Shah and Ajit Pawar.

The Congress party on Thursday slammed the BJP for spreading violence and hatred in society. Congress general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal said, "The Congress party's policy and ideology are very clear. We believe in loving one another. We are not responsible for spreading violence or hatred. Even though Congress President talks about his personal experiences from years ago, he is not fixated on them. He is fully committed to communal harmony, love, and affection. On the other hand, the BJP, under Yogi Adityanath, has only one agenda: to divide people, spread hatred, create violence, and promote intolerance"

The remark comes amid an ongoing spat between Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on the issue of appeasement politics. Earlier Karnataka Congress leader Priyank Kharge, the Congress president's son, also slammed Yogi Adityanath over his remarks stating that Kharge had forgotten the sacrifice of his family members for the sake of vote-bank politics.

Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar's remarks claiming the presence of industrialist Gautam Adani at a meeting of BJP and NCP leaders five years ago has triggered a huge political storm in Maharashtra. Yet, the Congress, which usually leaves no opportunity to target the ruling government at the Centre when it comes to the Adani Group chairman, is maintaining a studied silence on the ongoing controversy.

Barring the exception of spokesperson Pawan Khera, no other party leader of prominence has reacted to the development, suggesting a strategic call to refrain from raking up the issue. The decision is likely prompted by the mention of Sharad Pawar in Ajit Pawar's interview to The News Minute.

"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," Ajit Pawar had said referring to the alleged meeting in 2019.

The Congress, which is contesting the elections in an alliance with Sharad Pawar's NCP, does not want to rile the Maharashtra stalwart as the state heads into polls. Meanwhile, Sharad Pawar has rejected his nephew Ajit Pawar's claims and said that the BJP-NCP government would have come to power had any such meeting taken place.

Defending his decision to meet industrialist Gautam Adani despite objections from the Congress, Sharad pawar said it is necessary to maintain a good relationship with industrialists who are keen to invest in Maharashtra.

After all, I am an MP and work in public life. People’s issues are to be addressed properly. In such a situation, 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.

He said 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,” he added.

NCP (SP) leader Sharad Pawar on Wednesday rejected the claims by his nephew and Deputy CM Ajit Pawar regarding the presence of industrialist Gautam Adani in a meeting between BJP and NCP leaders to discuss a potential alliance to form a government five years ago.

Speaking to a Marathi news channel on Wednesday, Pawar said that there was no truth to his nephew's recent claims. "Had such a thing happened, you would have seen the BJP-NCP government being formed," said Sharad Pawar.

He further said that he met some Union ministers and industrialists after the 2019 election and was accompanied by Ajit Pawar, but it was never to discuss government formation.

As the controversy continued to rage over Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar's remarks suggesting that industrialist Gautam Adani was involved in talks between BJP and NCP to form a government in 2019, the NCP leader on Wednesday clarified that his remarks were misconstrued and misrepresented.

"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.

A 53-year-old doctor from Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, has been arrested by the Mumbai Police for allegedly posing as a journalist to attend a press conference held by Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Mumbai's Bandra-Kurla Complex on Sunday, and distributing handbills and staging a protest.

The doctor, identified as Shakti Prakash Bhargav made a fake identity card and posed as a journalist from a Hindi newspaper to gain entry into the press conference. The police has charged him with trespassing and forgery.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday invoked Razakars while responding to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's remarks that those who wear saffron robes and shave their heads must leave politics. "Don’t get angry with me. Get angry with those Nizams of Hyderabad, or with those Razakars of the Nizams, who burned down your village and killed your respected mother, sister and other members of the family,” he said.

Kharge has previously spoken of how his father was working in the fields and he was playing outside his house when the Razakars struck and set fire to his house, in which his mother, sister and other family members were killed. Razakars were the armed militia of the Nizams of Hyderabad which was tasked with crushing dissent among the people who wanted to join India.

Yogi Adityanath has accused Kharge of refusing to "accept the truth" and claimed that he has forgotten his family’s sacrifice for the sake of votes.

Poll officials on Wednesday checked the bag that Chief Minister Eknath Shinde was carrying during his visit to Palghar, Maharashtra, where he was due to campaign for the Assembly polls. The development came amid outrage over officials frisking Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray's luggage a few days ago.

"Maha Vikas Aghadi only wants to appease. To gain power, Uddhav ji has forgotten all the principles of Balasaheb Thackeray. Uddhav babu, who are you sitting with today? Today, you are with those who objected to the renaming of Aurangabad, the construction of Ram temple, the abrogation of Article 370 and also surgical strike against Pakistan. There are two clear sides in front of people of Maharashtra - Aghadi, which is the Aurangzeb fan club, and the other is Mahayuti which is following principles of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and Veer Savarkar," Union Home Minister Amit Shah said addressing a rally in Dhule, Maharashtra.

Having joined the Mahayuti after causing a split in the NCP less than two years ago, Ajit Pawar faces his biggest test in the coming Assembly polls in Maharashtra. The Lok Sabha elections cast a dark shadow over his acceptance among voters. Even the blame for the BJP's poor outing in the state in the general elections fell on his shoulders as a large section of party workers as well the BJP's ideological mentor RSS citing the decision to ally with his faction as the reason behind its reduced tally.

Asked if his faction of the NCP was the weak link within the Mahayuti, Pawar sought to issue a reminder about the Congress' position in the 2019 Lok Sabha election where it managed to win just 1 seat, but bounced back this year. The coming Assembly elections, he told The News Minute, will see similar gains for the NCP and the Mahayuti which would emerge victorious in 175 seats in the 288-member Assembly and form a government in the state.

The poll battle in Maharashtra has lately seen the emergence of three key slogans -- two coined by BJP leaders and one by the Congress. It all began with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's clarion call for unity among Hindus and his slogan of 'Batenge to Katenge'. The slogan was a bid to unite Hindus across the caste spectrum after the party's Lok Sabha debacle in UP. The slogan soon began to reverberate in Maharashtra months ahead of polls and soon became a poll issue that resonated with the local rank and file of the BJP and RSS.

Just days ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi kicked off his poll campaign with his own call for unity among SC, ST and OBC communities. He borrowed from Adityanath's slogan and refined it to 'Ek Rahenge to Safe Rahenge', (we are safe if we are united). The slogan was accompanied by the allegation that Congress was out on a mission to divide people on the basis of caste, and deprive them of their due representation.

On Tuesday, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge arrived in Maharashtra where he slammed the BJP for creating fear within society and accused it to deploying a divisive agenda. 'Daroge to Maroge' was his warning to the electorate. It came with a reminder that the BJP wanted to change the Constitution and end reservations.

Maratha quota activist, who shot to prominence with his quota agitation just over a year ago, is seen as an influential figure in the dominant Maratha community in the state. His announcement of a political foray had added a layer that could cut both ways for the MVA as well as the Mahayuti. However, his last-minute decision to withdraw his candidates from polls raised several eyebrows.

Clarifying his decision, Jarange-Patil dismissed rumours of acting under political pressure and said that the Maratha quota will vote as a bloc for those who promise them reservation within the OBC quota. He also revealed what led to his decision to withdraw candidates from the Assembly elections.

"I realised that an election cannot be fought on the basis of one caste (Maratha). Three groups of people – Marathas, Muslims and Dalits – had to come together to win. I felt (despite my efforts) this was not happening… The final baatcheet (discussions) took place on October 30 with representatives of the three groups. That is when I felt it would not work. I then thought why fight the elections if society was not going to benefit," he told The Indian Express on Tuesday.

Former MP Brigadier Sudhir Sawant is set to join the Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena. He will be formally inducted during Uddhav Thackeray’s public rally in Sawantwadi. Brigadier Sawant was previously an MP with the Congress, after which he founded his own Swaraj Party. Later, he joined the Aam Aadmi Party, and later, the Shinde Sena Shinde faction. Today, he will be leaving the Shinde faction to join the Thackeray faction.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sought to underline the need for unity among the SC, ST and OBC communities in Maharashtra, claiming that the Congress had launched a campaign to divide them for political gains.

"Congress is playing the game of breaking and dividing Dalits, backward classes and tribals for power. The people of Congress want to break the unity of SC-ST-OBC by dividing them into different castes. Congress will first weaken them, then snatch away their reservation. You have to remember- 'Ek rahenge to safe rahenge' (we are safe if we are united)," the Pm said at a rally in Maharashtra on Tuesday.

The PM's remarks come amid the BJP's bid to consolidate Hindu votes and prevent any division similar to what happened in the Lok Sabha elections.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah will address three rallies in Maharashtra on November 13. His first rally is scheduled to be held at 12 noon in Sindkheda. From there, Shah will head to Chalisgaon where he will address a public rally at 1.30 PM before heading to Jintur for a rally at 3.15 PM.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister will campaign for the BJP in Washim today. The UP CM has been touring the state amid an onslaught by the Opposition over his ‘Batenge to Katenge’ slogan. Wednesday saw a heated exchange between CM Adityanath and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge who coined the ‘Daroge to Maroge’ slogan as a counter to what he termed was a divisive campaign by the BJP leader.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has sought to shut down claims by the Shiv Sena (UBT) that poll officials selectively targetted Uddhav Thackeray and frisked his luggage in Yavatmal. The state unit of the party has countered the claim and said that EC officials had done the same to its leader and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis in the same district.

In a post on X, Maharashtra BJP said that Fadnavis' luggage was checked on November 5 and November 7 in Maharashtra.

The Congress party has latched on to the remarks by Deputy CM Ajit Pawar claiming that industrialist Gautam Adani was allegedly present at a meeting on government formation in Maharashtra among BJP and NCP leaders. "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 govts?" said Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera.

The Haryana poll results appear to have boosted the prospects of the ruling Mahayuti in Maharashtra with opinion polls predicting a clear majority for the BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP alliance. The Matrize opinion poll predicts 145-165 seats for the Mahayuti and 106-126 seats for the MVA.

Polling in Maharashtra is scheduled to be held on November 20 and the results will be declared on November 23.

The first challenge that the new government faces will be from me, Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange-Patil said on Tuesday, suggesting that the MVA or the Mahayuti will find it tough to assume power if they do not announce their support to reservations for his community before polling is held on November 20.

"The Marathas will vote for the side which promises reservation. Though parties have not done it so far, I feel some party will promise it soon. If they do not promise it before election day, we will not let them come to power," Jarange-Patil said in an interview to The Indian Express.

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut on Wednesday targetted the Mahayuti over NCP leader and Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar's remarks regarding a meeting between top leaders of the state five years ago. Pawar, in an interview to The News Minute, addressed his short-lived rebellion in 2019 when he crossed over and joined hands with the BJP to form a government that lasted 80 hours, and said he acted at the instructions of NCP founder and his uncle Sharad Pawar.

"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 told The News Minute.

Latching on to Pawar's remarks, Raut said: "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." He also alleged, "Money is being openly distributed. Wherever funds were to be sent, they were delivered by Shinde, Fadnavis, and Ajit Dada."

As many as 202 elders and divyang voters who opted for the home voting option exercised their votes over the last two days in the district, officials said. The Thane district has nearly 57,209 voters in the 85-plus age group and 37,854 divyang voters with over 40% locomotive disability, of which 933 elders and divyanjans from across the 18 constituencies opted for the "home-voting" facility.

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said ruling Mahayuti would make up for the losses they faced during the Lok Sabha elections to win in the assembly polls.

Addressing rallies in Palghar, he said once the Mahayuti is voted to power, its government would waive farm loans.

"We will make up for whatever losses we faced during this year's Lok Sabha elections. We are confident that the Mahayuti will retain power," Fadnavis said.

UP CM Yogi Adityanath, who addressed a public meeting at Amravati, accused the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi of turning Maharashtra into a "base for love jihad and land jihad," warning that the western state should not become a "laboratory" (for such practices).

Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar asked the Election Commission's central observers deployed for the Maharashtra assembly polls to uphold fair play and respond promptly to candidates' concerns.

Kumar directed them to be accessible to all candidates and parties without any favouritism.

On Monday, after his helicopter landed at Yavatmal district, his bag was checked by the authorities. Similarly on Tuesday, election officers again checked his bags after his chopper arrived at a helipad in Latur ahead of his rally scheduled to be held in Kasar Shirshi village.