'You are now at right place, but came very late': Amit Shah tells Ajit Pawar in Pune

Shah's statement comes more than a month after Ajit Pawar, the nephew of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) founder Sharad Pawar, joined the ruling Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government led by Eknath Shinde along with eight party MLAs on July 2.

Pune: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 Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) founder Sharad Pawar, joined the ruling Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government led by Eknath Shinde along with eight party MLAs on July 2. Pawar was made deputy chief minister, while the other eight MLAs, including Chhagan Bhujbal and Dilip Walse Patil, were sworn in as ministers.

"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. Shah was speaking after launching 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.

Speaking at the same 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. 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. 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. (PTI)