Maharashtra Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Chandrashekhar Bawankule took potshots at Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar over the events surrounding the short-lived government in 2019, saying it was Pawar’s last googly and none of his plans will work now.
Bawankule, said Sharad Pawar made his nephew and NCP leader Ajit Pawar a scapegoat when the latter joined hands with BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis to form a government that collapsed after 80 hours.
On November 23, 2019, Fadnavis took oath as Chief Minister and Ajit Pawar as deputy CM at an early morning swearing-in ceremony, but their government did not last long. In an interview, Fadnavis, now deputy CM of Maharashtra, claimed Sharad Pawar had agreed to form a government with the BJP, but backed out at the last moment.
Responding to Fadnavis statement, the former Union minister said in Pune he knew where and when to bowl a googly. His father-in-law (Test player Sadu Shinde) was a googly bowler, and he himself (Pawar) was the ICC chairman, the NCP chief said, adding, so, without playing cricket, I knew where and when to bowl a googly. Bawankule said history of Pawar shows he goes anywhere for sake of power.
Pawar had tried a lot to join hands with the BJP in 2014 for sake of power and hatched a political conspiracy in 2019. He made his nephew Ajit Pawar a part of that conspiracy and tried to destroy his political career.