Chhagan Bhujbal, who was among the nine Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leaders who joined the BJP-Shiv Sena government on Sunday, dismissed Sharad Pawar’s allegations that they had defected only because they wanted relief from the central enforcement agencies that are probing them.

Pawar said the BJP had been saying these politicians were corrupt and yet the same people were inducted into the cabinet. He added that PM Narendra Modi’s recent statement to this effect had made them stage a coup. He credited the success of the rebellion to the PM instead of any other factors. “Only Bhujbal called me before going to Raj Bhavan. He said what was happening was not good and promised to tell me more about the developments. Later, he confirmed that he had taken the oath of office,” said Pawar in Pune.