Praful Patel claims 51 NCP MLAs wanted Sharad Pawar to align with BJP

The leader of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Praful Patel, asserts that after the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra fell apart last year, 51 out of the 53 party MLAs had told NCP chief Sharad Pawar that a possibility of joining hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) should be explored.

If the NCP can form government with the Shiv Sena, why not with the BJP, Patel, who has switched over to Ajit Pawar's side, said in an interview. On Sunday, senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar led a vertical split in the party to become deputy chief minister in the one-year-old Shiv Sena-BJP government, shocking his uncle Sharad Pawar, who founded the outfit 24 years ago after quitting the Congress.

Besides Ajit Pawar, eight other NCP MLAs, including Chhagan Bhujbal and Hasan Mushrif, were sworn in as ministers in the Eknath Shinde cabinet. The Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, comprising the Shiv Sena (then undivided), NCP and Congress, collapsed in June last year after a revolt led by Shinde.

Patel said last year, internal discussions took place over joining the BJP alliance. There was a discussion among the MLAs, he said. There were discussions on this issue, but no decision was arrived at. Now a shape has been given. The decision has been taken as a party, not by me or Ajit Pawar individually, the Rajya Sabha member said.

He also claimed Jayant Patil was among the 51 MLAs, who wanted Sharad Pawar to explore the possibility of joining the government. Only Anil Deshmukh and Nawab Malik were not present, he added.