Was Gautam Adani Present BJP-NCP Meet? Here's What Ajit Pawar Says

Days after creating uproar over his claims that industrialist Gautam Adani was present at the NCP-BJP meeting in 2019 after the assembly election results were out, Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar has issued a clarification saying that he made a "mistake".

Speaking to news agency ANI, he said, "I said about that, sometimes we are so busy with our work, that, by mistake, I will say something...... it must have happened by mistake.," Pawar stated. "I am a man, only a man makes mistakes," he added.

According to him, Adani did not attend the meeting to discuss about government formation. "He (Gautam Adani) was not there. They were not there. meeting is held in different areas. Like we are sitting here. Some are in Devgiri, some are in Sagar, some are in Varsha, some are in different hotels, some are in other places, in guest houses," Pawar added.

He denied any role of Adani in forming the government. "We were sitting in Gautam Adani's guest house. To form a government of a state, an industrialist has no role. He was not there." Pawar added.

On asking whether Adani was under pressure to give clarification, he said, "I don't listen to anyone's pressure. I am sitting here; I have no reason to be oppressed by anyone. I have not harmed anyone and no one has harmed me,"

On the other hand, the founder of undivded NCP, Sharad Pawar said that the meeting was held at Adani's residence in New Delhi. He clarified that Adani hosted the dinner and "was not participating in the political discussions."

It is reported that the meeting between the BJP and the NCP occurred a day before Ajit Pawar took oath as Maharashtra Deputy CM before the government collapsed in less than 80 hours. Later, undivided NCP brought together Congress and Shiv Sena to form the Maha Vikas Aghadi government under Uddhav Thackeray's leaderhip.