Shall I give an affidavit, [saying that I’m not going anywhere]?” asked NCP leader Ajit Pawar while talking to reporters on Tuesday, requesting an end to speculation about him joining the BJP along with a group of MLAs. Calling the rumours the handiwork of his detractors, the leader of Opposition in the Assembly said he would work with the Nationalist Congress Party till his last breath.

“I don’t understand why their love for me is overflowing. Don’t just say and report anything. If it happens, I will be the first to tell you. It doesn’t need a fortune teller,” Ajit told reporters. Earlier in the day, NCP boss Sharad Pawar dismissed as false news reports about his nephew. “Ajit has not called a meeting of MLAs. What you have on your mind is not on ours. What I’m telling is important,” he snapped at media persons in Pune.