Supriya Sule on 2019 govt formation claim, says never expected this from Devendra Fadnavis

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MP Supriya Sule expressed shock over Maharashtra deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis’ sensational claim related to formation of a government in 2019 with NCP leader Ajit Pawar, and said she never expected something like this from Fadnavis.

Fadnavis, a senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, on Monday claimed NCP president Sharad Pawar had backed his plan to form the government with his nephew Ajit Pawar that eventually collapsed just after three days in November 2019.

However, Sharad Pawar quickly denied Fadnavis’ claim and said his assertion was based on falsehood. I always considered Fadnavis as a civilised and cultured person. I never thought he would behave like this, Sule said when asked about the deputy CM’s claim.

We had an offer from the NCP that they needed a stable government and we should form such a government together. We decided to go ahead and hold talks. The talks happened with Sharad Pawar. Then things changed. You have seen how things changed, Fadnavis said, referring to Ajit Pawar quitting the government 80 hours later.

In one of the biggest political surprises in Maharashtra, Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari swore in Fadnavis as Chief Minister and Ajit Pawar as Deputy CM in the early hours on November 23, 2019, after the BJP and then-undivided Shiv Sena fell out over sharing power after Assembly polls.