'Sharad Pawar Made List of Ministers After Nod to BJP-NCP Tie-up': 2019 Maharashtra Coup Back in Focus with 2 Versions

A year before the Maharashtra elections, the 2019 overnight coup is back in focus with both the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sharing tales of “googly” and “last minute back-off”.

Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, recently in an interview to a television channel, claimed that Sharad Pawar was on board with a BJP-NCP government in 2019. He had reportedly agreed to Fadnavis becoming the chief minister and Ajit Pawar his deputy. But Sharad Pawar backed off three to four days before the early morning swearing-in on November 23.

“If you want to understand Sharad Pawar’s mystery, then you will have to delve into his history,” Fadnavis said in the interview to Republic TV, claiming that Ajit joined hands with the BJP was only after his uncle Sharad Pawar’s nod.

“When Uddhav ji stopped taking our calls we understood that he was not coming to us because he was after the CM’s chair. At that time, some NCP people told us that NCP wanted to come with us. I want to underline this we had a meeting with Sharad Pawar where it was decided that BJP and the NCP would form the government. Ajit Pawar and I would head the government, it was decided. Then suddenly Pawar sahab backed off,” a report in Hindustan Times quoted Fadnavis as saying.

Reiterating that Sharad Pawar initiated the formation of the government in 2019, Fadnavis added, “What else could Ajit Pawar do? He had to come with me as we made all preparations. He would have been exposed. We took the oath and Ajit Pawar was thinking that Pawar sahab will be with us because we held so many meetings. It was not like one fine morning Ajit Pawar and I went to take oath all of a sudden.”

Adding to Fadnavis’ claims, Maharashtra minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said that Pawar had even made a list of cabinet portfolios and district guardian ministers as part of his plan to form a government with the Bharatiya Janata Party. However, Pawar dropped the plan right at the last moment, Mungantiwar claimed.

“Going by the reputation of NCP chief Sharad Pawar, one can easily trust the claims by our leader Devendra Fadnavis about the November 2019 swearing-in ceremony. As per our information, Pawar had even decided who would become the ministers and had distributed district guardian minister responsibilities,” Mumgantiwar told reporters.

“Sharad Pawar’s reputation is well known. Even before I entered politics, people used to say about his politics as looking at one thing and aiming at another. In 1978, Pawar parted ways with chief minister Vasantdada Patil and became CM. He then returned to the Congress and then again walked out in 1999 (to form NCP),” Mungantiwar said.

Sharad Pawar’s Statement

Hours after Fadnavis’ revelation, NCP chief Sharad Pawar accepted for the first time that there were discussions between the NCP and the BJP after the 2019 Maharashtra elections.

Speaking at a press conference in Pune, Pawar said called the move a “googly” by him to expose Fadnavis, “to show how far he could go to gain power”.

“…in the later period (after 2019 Assembly polls), it is true that he met me and discussed many things. Fadnavis has acknowledged that it was I who decided to change my stand. If I had changed my stand, what was his compulsion in taking the oath in the next two days, that too in such secrecy, so early in the morning. Had we (NCP) supported the alliance, he would not have had to resign within two days. We made certain moves to expose to the public that they (BJP) can go to any extent to grab power. Maharashtra needed to see how uncomfortable he (Fadnavis) would become without power,” a report in Indian Express quoted Pawar as saying.

The report further stated that Pawar used the analogy of cricket and said, “My father-in-law Sadu Shinde was a well-known googly bowler and he took wickets of many bigwigs. I handled the cricket administration in India and in the world for many years. So even if I have never played cricket, I know how and where to throw googly. Now if a wicket is given, it has to be taken.”

NCP spokesperson Clyde Crasto too issued a statement and dismissed Fadnavis’ claim. He said now that Fadnavis has been subdued by chief minister Eknath Shinde, he is trying to garner publicity by misusing Sharad Pawar’s name.

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut backed the NCP chief and said, “If Sharad Pawar has done anything then it’s okay. There is nothing new in it. You experimented and it failed and backfired. That’s the bottom line. Forget about the double game. He (Sharad Pawar) subsequently formed a government (with united Shiv Sena and Congress) and Uddhav Thackeray became the CM and Pawar saheb backed it completely. This is a fact.”

Recap of 2019 Maharashtra Coup

The BJP had won 105 seats in the Maharashtra Assembly elections, the results of which were announced on October 24, 2019. The Shiv Sena, which was in an alliance with the BJP, won 56 seats. Despite having enough seats to form a government together, the two allies bickered over power-sharing – who will get the chief minister’s post being the bone of contention – resulting in the Shiv Sena starting negotiations with the ideologically different Congress and NCP instead.

With no outcome in sight then, the Centre imposed President’s Rule in Maharashtra on November 12. The Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP continued negotiations to form an alliance, and Sharad Pawar later announced that Uddhav Thackeray had been unanimously chosen to head the new government. Thus, the early morning oath-taking ceremony of Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar on November 23 came as a surprise.

In one of the biggest political surprises in Maharashtra, then Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari swore in Devendra Fadnavis as the Chief Minister and Ajit Pawar as Deputy Chief Minister. The ministry lasted three days, after which Uddhav Thackeray was sworn in as the chief minister.

(with inputs from PTI)