'What Ajit Pawar Said Is A Fact': Maharashtra Minister Hasan Mushrif Backs Party Chief Over His 'NCP-BJP Talks' Claim

Mushrif said that Ajit Pawar's statement that industrialist Gautam Adani brokered talks between the NCP and BJP in 2019 was true.

Kolhapur: Amid the intensifying campaign for the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly Elections, senior NCP (Ajit Pawar faction) leader and state Medical Education Minister Hasan Mushrif has backed party chief Ajit Pawar over his statement that industrialist Gautam Adani was part of the talks between the then undivided NCP and the BJP for government formation after the 2019 state elections.

Ajit, in an interview to a news outlet, claimed that a meeting attended by the undivided NCP chief Sharad Pawar, union Home Minister Amit Shah, industrialist Gautam Adani and Praful Patel was held after the 2019 Maharashtra assembly elections to negotiate between BJP and NCP to form the government, which lasted only for a brief duration. In the short-lived government, Devendra Fadnavis was sworn in as the Chief Minister and Ajit Pawar as his deputy.

"What Ajit Pawar said is a fact," claimed state medical education minister Hasan Mushrif while talking to the media at Kagal.

Mushrif, who is the sitting MLA from Kagal in Kolhapur district, has been fielded by the NCP (Ajit Pawar faction) again from the seat under the NCP-BJP Mahayuti alliance. Mushrif's candidature has however not gone down well with BJP's Samarjeetsingh Ghatage indicating that he would contest the polls as “BJP candidate”.

Voting for all 288 seats of Maharashtra assembly elections 2024 will be held in a single phase on November 20 while counting will be held on 23.