Devendra Fadnavis 'misusing' Sharad Pawar's name to outshine Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde, says NCP

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. File Pic

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Thursday accused Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis of trying to garner publicity by "misusing" NCP president Sharad Pawar's name to outshine CM Eknath Shinde, reported news agency PTI.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Devendra Fadnavis in an interview to a TV channel recently claimed Sharad Pawar agreed to form government with the BJP in 2019 and then backed off after three-four days.

Reacting to Devendra Fadnavis's claim, NCP national spokesperson Clyde Crasto in a statement said, "After being subdued by Eknath Shinde in advertisements in the past few days, Devendra Fadnavis is now trying to garner publicity on his own, he is therefore misusing the name of Sharad Pawar in interviews, to gain free publicity and outshine Eknath Shinde."

After the 2019 Assembly elections in Maharashtra, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (then undivided) snapped ties with long-term ally BJP over the issue of sharing the chief ministerial post.

Later, Fadnavis was sworn in as the chief minister and NCP leader Ajit Pawar as his deputy in a hush-hush early morning ceremony at the Raj Bhawan, but the government lasted only 80 hours.

Thackeray subsequently tied-up with the NCP and the Congress to form the Maha Vikas Aghadi government (MVA) in the state.

In June last year, Shinde led a revolt against the Shiv Sena leadership, leading to a split in the party and collapse of the MVA government.

On June 30, 2022, Shinde was sworn in as the CM with Fadnavis as his deputy.

Earlier, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has dared Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray to put details of his family's properties in the public domain.

Fadnavis and Thackeray have been trading barbs after the BJP leader termed the meeting held in Patna last week as the gathering of parties with an agenda to save their "families and dynasties".

Speaking in Chandrapur, Fadnavis reiterated that the work done by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the last nine years forced the "family-centric" parties to come under one roof to save their political heirs.

He was addressing BJP leaders and others at an event to mark the Modi government's completion of nine years in power.

(With inputs from PTI)