'I called Uddhav, told whatever Ajit did...': Sharad Pawar in autobiography

Sharad Pawar resignation announcement met with protests from the NCP workers. Ajit Pawar said his uncle will rethink his decision for 2-3 days.

Sharad Pawar announced his resignation from the post of the president of the Nationalist Congress Party that he founded in 1999 at the launch of the second part of his autobiography ‘Lok Maze Sangati'. While his exit from the party chief post raises several questions over the future of the party, the role of his nephew Ajit Pawar and NCP's alliance with the Congress and the Uddhav Sena in the state, his tell-all book reveals many a thing about Ajit Pawar's 2019 misadventure when Ajit Pawar extended support to the BJP and took the oath as the deputy chief minister in a secret coup when talks for Maha Vikas Aghadi among Congress, Shiv Sena (undivided) and the NCP were on. Read | BJP secretly worked against ally Shiv Sena to destroy it, says Pawar in autobiography

Sharad Pawar announced his exit for the post of the party supremo at the launch of his autobiography which too contains explosive revelations about Maharashtra politics. (PTI)

'NCP MLAs were told I agreed to side with BJP'

Recounting the 2019 incident, Sharad Pawar said he received a call at 6am on November 23, 2019. He was shocked to know that 10 NCP MLAs along with Ajit Pawar were at the Raj Bhavan. Sharad Pawar called those MLAs and got to know that those MLAs were told Sharad Pawar agreed to NCP supporting the BJP. "Immediately, I called Uddhav Thackeray and told him that whatever Ajit did had no go-ahead from me," Sharad Pawar wrote in his book. Read | Sharad Pawar quits as NCP chief, sparks Ajit Pawar v Supriya Sule row?

'Maha Vikas Aghadi govt collapsed because Uddhav resigned without fight'

Sharad Pawar wrote in his book that Maha Vikas Aghadi was not just an alliance for power but a coming together of the opposition against the BJP. MVA could have challenged the BJP at the national level. "We all knew that there will be desperate attempts to break this alliance. The government collapsed because Uddhav resigned without giving a fight," Sharad Pawar wrote. Read | ‘Like Balasaheb…dirty politics’: Sanjay Raut on Sharad Pawar's resignation

'BJP wanted to destroy Shiv Sena'

After the 2014 Lok Sabha election, the power equation between the BJP and the Shiv Sena changed though they were allies, Pawar wrote. BJP was planning to finish Shiv Sena: "Without finishing the Shiv Sena, which had a strong presence in urban areas, it would not be able to establish undisputed supremacy in the state." In 2019, the BJP was confident about getting a full majority, the book says.