From vowing to jail him, Fadnavis now has Ajit Pawar as deputy

Mumbai, November 24

Politics does make for strange bedfellows.

Take the case of Devendra Fadnavis, who in 2014 had vowed to send Ajit Pawar to jail for his alleged corruption in the “irrigation scam”.

On Saturday, after Fadnavis was sworn in Maharashtra chief minister for a second term, propped up by the man he had termed corrupt not so long ago, videos of his tirade against the NCP leader went viral on social media.

In the video, Fadnavis can be heard describing what Ajit Pawar would be doing in prison after the election.

He would be, said Fadnavis, “Chakki peesing and peesing and peesing”, words from the iconic film ‘Sholay’, used to describe prisoners doing hard, manual labour.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had described the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party as “Naturally Corrupt Party”, was also among those who congratulated Ajit Pawar after he became the deputy CM.

In a stunning turn of events in Maharashtra, BJP’s Fadnavis on Saturday returned as chief minister propped up by Ajit Pawar, who was made his deputy, just hours after the new alliance of Shiv Sena, the NCP and the Congress reached a consensus that Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray will be their chief ministerial candidate.

The Shiv Sena approached the Supreme Court against the “arbitrary and malafide actions/decisions” of Maharashtra governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari of swearing in Fadnavis.

Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar were sworn in by Koshyari at 8 am at a hush hush ceremony here after dramatic midnight developments, leading to the lifting of the President’s rule in Maharashtra. — PTI