Ajit Pawar not in touch with BJP, MVA leaders defaming him, says Bawankule

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Maharashtra Bharatiya Janata Party chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule on Friday said Maha Vikas Aghadi leaders were defaming Nationalist Congress Party's Ajit Pawar and questioning his credibility.

Amid speculations that Pawar may join the BJP, Bawankule said the former had not met him in the last three months and nor had he met senior leaders of the ruling party.

"The leaders of MVA are defaming Ajit Pawar. They are posing questions on the credibility of Pawar. From the early morning swearing in (when Pawar broke ranks and allied with Devendra Fadnavis in 2019) till now, question marks are being raised on his life, stand and work," Bawankule told reporters.

He was responding to queries on Pawar's next move, speculations on which have gathered strength over the past few weeks after the mercurial NCP leader cancelled some of his programmes, went incommunicado briefly and skipped the party's day-long convention in Mumbai on Friday.

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"The leaders of MVA are deliberately trying to make him stand in the witness box (cornering him). I will not make any statement on Ajit Pawar that will affect his credibility or image. Ajit Pawar never tried to establish contact with us," the Maharashtra BJP chief asserted.

Bawankule also junked media reports that 13 NCP MLAs are in touch with the BJP.

On November 23, 2019, Fadnavis and Pawar were sworn in as chief minister and deputy CM, respectively, but the government fell without proving its majority on November 28.

Pawar went back to the NCP and was made deputy CM in the Maha Vikas Aghadi government led by Uddhav Thackeray.

The Maha Vikas Aghadi comprises the Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP and the Congress.

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