Ajit Pawar has backstabbed people of Maharashtra, says Sanjay Raut

Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Saturday said that NCP leader Ajit Pawar, who took oath as the Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister earlier today, has backstabbed the people of the state and accused the BJP of misusing the Governor's office for power.

"Sharad Pawar saheb has nothing to do with this (on government formation). Ajit Pawar has backstabbed the people of Maharashtra. BJP has once again misused the Governor's Office for power. This is against the credentials of the country's democracy," Raut said at a press conference here.

He asserted that Ajit Pawar was active in the negotiations between Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress over the government formation yesterday.

"Till 9 pm yesterday, this gentleman (Ajit Pawar) was very active during the talks. Suddenly he disappeared after that. We were suspicious when he was not talking to us by maintaining eye to eye contact," Raut said.

Continuing his tirade against Ajit Pawar, the Shiv Sena leader said, "Uddhav Thackeray ji and Sharad Pawar ji are in touch and will also meet today. They might also address the media together. But the fact is that Ajit Pawar and the MLAs supporting him have insulted Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and Maharashtra. People of Maharashtra will not forgive Ajit Pawar."

The BJP, which won 105 seats, forged an alliance with the NCP to garner the majority figure of 146, and formed the government. The NCP has 54 MLAs. Following this, President's Rule was revoked in the state.

While BJP's Devendra Fadnavis took oath as the Chief Minister for the second consecutive term, Ajit Pawar took oath as Deputy Chief Minister of the state. Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari had administered the oath to both the leaders at Raj Bhawan.

The move came at a time when deliberations between Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena on government formation seemingly reached the final stage on Friday.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar clarified that the decision of joining hands with BJP to form the government is of his nephew Ajit Pawar.

"Ajit Pawar's decision to support the BJP to form the Maharashtra Government is his personal decision and not that of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). We place on record that we do not support or endorse this decision of his," Sharad Pawar tweeted.

The BJP, which emerged as the single largest party, could not stake claim to form a government as its ally Shiv Sena, which won 56 seats, remained firm on rotating the Chief Minister's post and equal sharing of Cabinet berths.

Shiv Sena parted its ways with BJP to explore ways to form a government. It, however, failed to prove the support of the required number of MLAs in the time given by Koshyari.

The Governor had then invited NCP, the third-largest party, to prove its ability to form the government failing which President's Rule was imposed in the state on November 12.