Is Ajit Pawar joining BJP? Here's what Sharad Pawar has to say

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Tuesday refuted the speculations about his nephew and senior party leader Ajit Pawar joining the ruling BJP.

"Whatever discussions going on in the public is created by media. We do not have anything in our minds," the NCP chief claimed while speaking to reporters.

"There is no truth to all these discussions. The reports are baseless. I can say that my NCP colleagues are together and our focus is only on making the party stronger, and there is no other thought in anybody's mind," he said.

Sharad Pawar, whose party is an ally of the Maha Vikas Aghadi in Maharashtra, also rejected reports of a meeting of NCP MLAs being called in Mumbai. "Ajit Pawar and Jayant Patil are busy with a local election in their regions, providing guidance to everyone. They are with us. No such meeting has been called," he said.

Aji Pawar's move to cancel his scheduled meeting on April 8 as well as his comments which were seen as going soft on the BJP and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's camp, revived the talks of the NCP leader contemplating to join BJP.

The 63-year-old leader, who was Deputy Chief Minister, is currently the Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly. In one of the most dramatic incidents in Maharashtra politics, Ajit Pawar went missing only to reappear alongside BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis at Raj Bhavan in 2019.

In a hastily organised ceremony, Ajit took oath as Deputy CM with Fadnavis as the Chief Minister. However, the government fell within days as it could not muster enough numbers to attain majority.