Raut says Ajit Pawar has been 'blackmailed', will expose people behind it

Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Saturday claimed that Ajit Pawar who took oath as Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra earlier today has been "blackmailed" and said that he will expose the people behind these events.

"Of the 8 MLAs who had gone with Ajit Pawar, five of them have come back. They were lied to, put in a car, and sort of kidnapped. If they have the courage they should prove majority in Assembly," Raut told reporters.

"We are in touch with Dhananjay Munde and there is a possibility of even Ajit Pawar coming back. Ajit has been blackmailed, it will be exposed who is behind this in Saamna newspaper soon," he said.

Earlier in the day, Devendra Fadnavis took oath as Chief Minister of Maharashtra for the second term.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar has clarified that the decision of going with BJP to form the government in Maharashtra is of his nephew Ajit Pawar's, who took oath as Deputy Chief Minister today.

"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 move came at a time when deliberations between Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena seemingly reached the final stage on Friday. Earlier, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar had claimed that there was a consensus on Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray as chief minister of the alliance government.

Shiv Sena bagged 56 seats while 44 seats went to Congress in the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly.

The BJP, which emerged as the single largest party, could not stake claim to form a government as its ally Shiv Sena 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 state Governor Bhagat Singh 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.