Adani hosted 2019 talks but he wasn’t part of it: Sharad Pawar | India News – Times of India

MUMBAI: Two days after Ajit Pawar said industrialist Gautam Adani was part of political talks that took place between BJP and the undivided Sharad Pawar-led NCP in 2019, NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar said that the meeting, where he was present, was held at Adani’s residence in New Delhi. He, however, added that Adani hosted the dinner but “was not participating in the political discussions.”
Pawar Senior made these remarks in an interview with The News Minute-Newslaundry. He said that apart from him, those present were Adani, Amit Shah, and Ajit Pawar. The power-sharing talks took place before Ajit Pawar’s early morning swearing-in as deputy chief minister, with Devendra Fadnavis as CM, to form a govt that lasted barely 80 hours.

Pawar Senior was quoted by the news portal as saying that his NCP colleagues, many of whom faced cases from Central agencies, told him they had been assured that if they joined hands with BJP, the cases would go away. Pawar, according to the report, said he pushed back as he was not convinced that BJP would keep its promise, but his colleagues said “why not hear it from the horse’s mouth” and that was how he found himself at a dinner at Adani’s residence, with Amit Shah present.
Referring to the meeting, Ajit Pawar had said, “It has been five years, everyone knows where the meeting happened, it was in Delhi at a businessman’s house, everyone knows it. Yes, there were five meetings… Amit Shah was there, Gautam Adani was there, Praful Patel was there, Devendra Fadnavis was there, Ajit Pawar was there, Pawar Saheb was there… All were there… Everything was decided.” He had further said, “Blame for it has fallen on me, and I have taken it. I took blame and made others safe.”
When he was asked why Pawar Senior had later hesitated and not gone with BJP, Ajit had said he didn’t know. “Pawar Saheb is a leader whose mind no one in the world can read. Not even our aunty (Sharad Pawar’s wife Pratibha) or our Supriya (Sule),” he had said.
Meanwhile, Sharad Pawar on Thursday visited Chinchwad assembly constituency in Pune district to campaign for his party’s candidate, Rahul Kalate, who is contesting against BJP’s Shankar Jagtap in the Maharashtra elections on Nov 20. Pawar criticised the current govt, stating that Maharashtra has “fallen into the wrong hands” in recent years, resulting in a decline and stagnation in development.