Still with NCP; Uddhav will decide on induction — Ajit Pawar

[caption id="attachment_284745" align="alignleft" width="400"] NCP leader Supriya Sule greets Shiv Sena leader Aditya Thackeray during a special session of the Maharashtra Assembly, Vidhan Bhawan, in Mumbai on Wednesday. (PTI)[/caption] Mumbai, Nov. 27 (PTI): NCP leader Ajit Pawar on Wednesday said he continues to be in the Sharad Pawar-led party, adding it was up to CM-designate Uddhav Thackeray to take a call on inducting him into the cabinet. Ajit Pawar, who last week supported the BJP to form a short-lived government in Maharashtra, also said there is no reason "to create" confusion about his being in the NCP. "I have nothing to say (right now), I will speak at the right time. I had said earlier also, I am in the NCP and I will remain in the NCP. There is no reason to create confusion," Ajit Pawar told in Vidhan Bhawan premises. "The decision to induct me in the cabinet is to be taken by Uddhav Thackeray as CM," he said. "I am not unhappy with anyone. I will accept any responsibility given by my party," he said. On his late Tuesday night visit to 'Silver Oak', his uncle and NCP president Sharad Pawar's residence, Ajit Pawar said, "It is my right to meet my leader." Meanwhile, NCP MLA Rohit Pawar on Wednesday said he was sure his uncle Ajit Pawar would return to the party and felt happy after the latter met party chief Sharad Pawar. He also said that the Pawars "stand united" and will remain so. "I could not trust how it happened. As a worker, I did not go into the details of it. There was some confusion being a family member, I could not understand what was happening," Rohit Pawar, who is the grandson of Sharad Pawar's elder brother Appasaheb Pawar, told a news channel. He made the remarks when asked about what he felt when Ajit Pawar took oath as deputy chief minister after tying up with the BJP last Saturday. "But we were sure (about his return). We knew Dada well," Rohit Pawar said. Ajit Pawar, who won the October 21 state polls from Pune's Baramati seat with a margin of 1.65 lakh votes, shocked his party and family last Saturday after he joined hands with the BJP and became deputy chief minister in the Devendra Fadnavis-led government. The NCP sacked him as its legislature unit leader the same day. However, he continues to be a member of the party. Ajit Pawar on Tuesday resigned as Dy CM citing "personal reason", following which Fadnavis too stepped down as chief minister, bringing the curtains down on the 80-hour- old BJP-led government in Maharashtra.

Amit Shah on Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress alliance

Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said political parties with diametrically opposite ideologies have come together only to grab power and have discredited the mandate given by the people of Maharashtra. Speaking at a function organised by Republic channel, the minister said people voted for a stable government in Maharashtra with pre-poll alliance between his BJP and the Shiv Sena winning people's mandate. He said moral and ethics have been distorted just to keep the BJP out of power. "Is it not horse-trading to take support by offering chief minister's position. I am again telling Sonia Gandhi and Sharad Pawar to claim chief minister's post and then take Shiv Sena's support," Shah said. The minister said the BJP has been accused of horse-trading while the newly formed SS-NCP-INC alliance has stolen the entire stable along with the CM's post. "I again want to make it clear that we had not given any assurance of chief minister's position to Shiv Sena. Even in election rallies, when Aditya and Uddhav Thackeray were on stage we had said Devendra Fadnavis will be chief minister. Why they didn't oppose it then?" he said. The minister said he was of the firm belief that the people of the country don't get misled by such vote bank politics and they are still with the BJP. "All MLAs of Shiv Sena have won elections contesting with us. There is not a single MLA of Shiv Sena who had not used cutouts of Narendra Modi. In their assembly seats, they used bigger cutouts of Modi than in seats where the BJP contested. Do people of the country and Maharashtra not know this," he said. Shah said people have accepted the Modi government's politics of performance over vote bank politics. They have become mature and discredited decadent issues of family politics and money-muscle power politics, he said.

Chidambaram blames Gov., PM and President

Former finance minister P Chidambaram Wednesday attacked BJP over the manner in which Devendra Fadnavis was sworn in as Maharashtra chief minister, saying, "the Governor, the Prime Minister and President are all responsible". "That is the way they celebrate Constitution Day. That is the honour they show to the Constitution. The Governor, the Prime Minister and President are all responsible for the midnight affair," the 74-year senior Congress lead said. "It is sad that the President is involved. I am deeply sad that the President was woken up at 4 in the morning," Chidambaram said while stepping out of the crowded courtroom here. Special judge Ajay Kumar Kuhar extended Chidambaram's judicial custody till December 11 in the INX Media money laundering case filed by the Enforcement Directorate.