Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and former Maharashtra deputy chief minister, Ajit Pawar, on Tuesday denied media reports claiming he had the backing of a section of his party MLAs in his rumoured bid to switch over to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

In a tweet, on Monday, Ajit Pawar issued a stout denial of the news reports, saying, "There are some media reports saying that I have convened a meeting of the (NCP) MLAs on Tuesday. This is completely false. I wish to clarify that I have not called a meeting of my party MLAs and office bearers."