Shah shares stage with Ajit Pawar in Pune, says ‘you’re in right place after long time’

Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Sunday shared the dais with Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar at an event in Pune and said the latter is now at the “right place after a long time”, but “came very late”.

Shah’s statement comes more than a month after Ajit Pawar, the nephew of NCP chief Sharad Pawar, joined the ruling Shiv Sena-BJP government led by Eknath Shinde along with 8 party MLAs on July 2. Pawar was made the deputy chief minister, while the other eight MLAs, including Chhagan Bhujbal and Dilip Walse Patil, were sworn in as ministers.

Also read: Rajiv Gandhi had ‘Mr Clean’ image, PM Modi enjoys same reputation: Ajit Pawar

“This is my first public programme with Ajit Pawar. I want to tell him that he is now sitting at the right place after a long time. This was always the right place for you, but you came to sit here very late,” Shah said while addressing a gathering after launch of the digital portal of the Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies (CRCS) office. CM Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis were also present at the event.

Ajit praises Shah

Speaking at the event, Pawar praised Shah for bringing positive changes in the country’s cooperative sector. “Shah is a son-in-law of Maharashtra, hence he loves Maharashtra more than Gujarat from where he comes. Whether you agree or not, everyone develops more love towards the home of in-laws,” Pawar said. Shah’s wife hails from Kolhapur city in western Maharashtra.

VIDEO | "Ajit Pawar has become Deputy CM of Maharashtra and for the first time we are at the same stage. I would like to tell him that after a long time, he is at the right place and that he took a lot of time to be here," says Union Home minister @AmitShah at an event in Pune. pic.twitter.com/lQRADqfsfo

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) August 6, 2023

Pawar said, “We all witness the ongoing changes in the cooperative sector in the country. All these changes are introduced by Shah after holding discussions with all the stakeholders for the larger benefit of the state.” The cooperative sector is the only sector that has reached the grassroots level in the country, the Maharashtra deputy CM said. “Gujarat and Maharashtra have a great legacy of cooperative movement and it will thrive further,” he added.

Also read: Ajit Pawar will get opportunity to become CM, says Praful Patel

Failed power bid

In November 2019, after the assembly polls and the split between the BJP and the Shiv Sena, Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar were sworn in as CM and Deputy CM, respectively, in an early morning ceremony at the Mumbai Raj Bhavan. However, their government lasted just 80 hours with Pawar returning to the NCP.

Later, Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray was sworn in as CM after his party joined hands with the NCP and Congress to form the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government. The MVA government, however, fell in June last year after Eknath Shinde and 39 MLAs revolted against Thackeray and split the Shiv Sena.

(With agency inputs)