The Maharashtra twist and an eerie similarity to what Deve Gowda did in 2006

New Delhi, Nov 23: The drama that is playing out in Maharashtra is reminiscent of the one that played out in Karnataka a few years back.

Early this morning, Devendra Fadnavis was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra and Ajit Pawar of the NCP as the deputy CM.

An hour post the swearing-in ceremony, Sharad Pawar issued a statement that he did not endorse these developments. He said that the decision taken by Ajit Pawar was personal and the NCP neither supports or endorses it. Praful Patel of the NCP too issued a similar statement and said that Sharad Pawar had nothing to do with it.

It may be recalled that earlier this week, Sharad Pawar had met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. During the 40 minute meeting, Pawar is said to have discussed the farmer crisis in Maharashtra.

Karnataka was faced with a similar situation in the past. The elections in 2004 were completed and no party had the mandate to form the government in Karnataka. The JD(S) and Congress came together to form the government with N Dharma Singh as the Chief Minister.

However, two years later in 2006, there was a major twist to the tale. H D Kumaraswamy pulled out several MLAs of the JD(S) and announced that he would be forming the government with the BJP. He became the CM, while B S Yeddyurappa, his deputy.

The man who opposed the alliance the most and publicly disowned his son's decision was H D Deve Gowda. He called the alliance an unholy one and said that it did not have his blessings.

Publicly he stayed away from his son for several months. However the differences were patched up and Gowda finally said that he was on board with his son's decision, until it was time to hand over power to the BJP as part of the rotational CM policy agreement.

Gowda made it clear that this would not happen and he took his sons, Kumaraswamy and H D Revanna on board. Yeddyurappa was sworn in as CM for a brief period. He decided to tender his resignation and face the elections. The BJP came to power in Karnataka in the 2008 elections.

Like in the case of Karnataka, in Maharashtra, Sharad Pawar too has publicly disowned the decision taken by his nephew Ajit Pawar. All the BJP leaders including Fadnavis have thanked Ajit Pawar for the support.

Ajit Pawar said that the decision he took was in the interest of the state. He said that the talks with the Shiv Sena and Congress were not ending and the state needed a stable government.

It is not clear if Ajit Pawar has split the party, but the BJP says that all 54 MLAs of the NCP are backing the government. The BJP says that it has 120 MLAs along with the support of 15 independent MLAs. The BJP said in all it has 174 members in the assembly and this would mean that all the NCP MLAs are backing the government.