Devendra Fadnavis 'misusing' Pawar's name to outshine Eknath Shinde: NCP

Mumbai: The Nationalist Congress Party on Thursday accused Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis of trying to garner publicity by "misusing" NCP president Sharad Pawar's name to outshine CM Eknath Shinde.

Bharatiya Janata Party leader Fadnavis in an interview to a TV channel recently claimed Pawar agreed to form government with the BJP in 2019 and then backed off after three-four days.

Reacting to the deputy CM's claim, NCP national spokesperson Clyde Crasto in a statement said, "After being subdued by Eknath Shinde in advertisements in the past few days, Devendra Fadnavis is now trying to garner publicity on his own, he is therefore misusing the name of Sharad Pawar in interviews, to gain free publicity and outshine Eknath Shinde." After the 2019 Assembly elections in Maharashtra, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (then undivided) snapped ties with long-term ally BJP over the issue of sharing the chief ministerial post.

Later, Fadnavis was sworn in as the chief minister and NCP leader Ajit Pawar as his deputy in a hush-hush early morning ceremony at the Raj Bhawan, but the government lasted only 80 hours.

Thackeray subsequently tied-up with the NCP and the Congress to form the Maha Vikas Aghadi government (MVA) in the state.

In June last year, Shinde led a revolt against the Shiv Sena leadership, leading to a split in the party and collapse of the MVA government.

On June 30, 2022, Shinde was sworn in as the CM with Fadnavis as his deputy.