Sharad Pawar on how MVA government was formed in Maharashtra | Exclusive

By Rajdeep Sardesai, Sahil Joshi: In an interview with India Today Group's Marathi Web Channel Mumbai Tak, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar spoke on how the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government was formed in Maharashtra.

ON BJP-SENA BITTERNESS

There are two things in this. One is how this government was formed. Uddhav’s tri-party government is of a different situation. Shiv Sena and BJP were together. What was their understanding? What were their commitments? It happened between the two; all that is known to them. But after the Vidhan Sabha election results, they started feeling that there was something unfair. We remained silent, but we kept an eye on the situation. As days passed, government formation became difficult, and we realised that their bitterness had only grown. With so much bitterness, the government could not have run.

ON UDDHAV THACKERAY

I have seen Uddhav Thackeray from his childhood days as we had very close relations with his father Balasaheb Thackeray. We could see that, slowly, Uddhav is proceeding on the path shown by Balasaheb Thackeray. Balasaheb had given the responsibility of Sena to Uddhav, but a lot of people questioned what would happen to the party after Balasaheb. But when Sena came back to power in the BMC elections, everyone saw that Sena only grew stronger. People felt that if Uddhav was given responsibility, he could deal with it properly. All doubts were cleared after that. He might be soft-spoken, but people could see his abilities. So when the differences between Sena and BJP grew, many in our party felt that we should establish a dialogue with Shiv Sena. We discussed this, and at the same time, Sanjay Raut also reached out.

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‘I SPOKE TO SONIA GANDHI’

This was after the elections when the government formation did not take place. When we realised that a Shiv Sena-BJP government was not going to be formed, this separate channel was opened up for dialogue. So when we started the discussion, we felt that a government of Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena could be formed. Some people in Congress were also receptive to the idea of this government formation as they did not want BJP to come to power. But they had doubts if Congress chief Sonia Gandhi would be ready to accept this idea. However, they put up this proposal before Gandhi. Then I myself spoke to her and said that there is a need to see that BJP does not come to power and for that the three parties have to come together. She then discussed this with her own party members.

‘RAHUL NEVER CAME INTO DISCUSSION’

Rahul Gandhi never came into this discussion about government formation with Shiv Sena. Sonia Gandhi held a meeting, and after she got a positive response from everyone at the party, she immediately green-flagged the tri-party government proposal.

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