Amid the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) crisis in Maharashtra, Ajit Pawar faction leader Chhagan Bhujbal said, More than 40 MLAs and MLCs are with us. We have done all the due diligence before taking the oath. We did not take the oath just like that.
We are being accused of coming here (with Ajit Pawar) for fear of legal cases. This is not correct. Dhananjay Munde, Dilip Walse Patil and Ramraje Nimbalkar have no cases against them. There are several other people who have no cases against them but are still here. We are here only because there are some close aides around you Saheb (Sharad Pawar), they are out to finish the party. We are ready to come back to you once you sideline them. We will come back to you then, said Chhagan Bhujbal.
In a surprise move on July 2nd NCP leader Ajit Pawar who was also the Maharashtra Leader of Opposition joined the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance in Maharashtra and took oath as Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister. The move by NCP chief Sharad Pawar's nephew Ajit Pawar, which also saw eight other NCP MLAs joining the Shinde-Fadnavis government, came amid efforts by opposition parties to forge unity to take on the BJP in the next year's Lok Sabha polls.