Nationalist Congress (NCP) leader and state unit chief Jayant Patil refuted the claims of his joining the Ajit Pawar faction on Sunday amid buzz of him jumping the ship. Ajit Pawar joined the NDA alliance in Maharashtra and became the Deputy Chief Minister of the state. Patel said that he is always with NCP Chief Sharad Pawar.
"I am always with Sharad Pawar," Jayant Patil said while talking to the reporters here.
There were several media reports that claimed Patil met with Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday. The NCP leader outrightly rejected having met anyone and said he has been in Mumbai and did not travel to Delhi or Pune.
"Who told you this? (that I met Amit Shah) You should ask those who are saying all this. Last evening, I was there at the residence of Sharad Pawar... I have not met anyone...," Patil said as quoted by ANI.
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Ajit Pawar, along with eight Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLAs, switched over to the BJP-Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde)-led Maharashtra government recently. However, they are still claiming themselves to be members of the NCP and that the NCP is their party.
Pawar was then sworn in as Deputy Chief Minister of the state. Maharashtra's other Deputy Chief Minister is BJP's Devendra Fadnavis.
On Sunday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah shared the dais with Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar at an event in Maharashtra's Pune and said the latter is in the "right place".
"Ajit Dada (Pawar) has come for the first time after becoming the Deputy CM and I am sharing the stage with him, I want to tell him that after a long time, you are sitting at the right place," Shah said.
He also added that this is the right place and that Ajit Pawar took a long time to come.
(With input from agencies)