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Ajit Pawar's rebellion when he briefly joined hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2019 did not concern only party discipline but it was also a family affair, Nationalist Congress Party leader Sharad Pawar has said, disclosing wife Pratibha's role in bringing their nephew back into the party fold.
In the updated version of his Marathi autobiography Lok Majhe Sangati (People Accompany Me) which focuses on events post 2015, Pawar said when Ajit Pawar rebelled, party leaders kept in touch with him continuously.
BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar formed a short-lived government when the Pawar senior was busy cobbling together an alliance with the Shiv Sena and Congress in November 2019.
“Ajit's brother Shriniwas was asked to maintain dialogue with him....My wife Pratibha and Ajit share a strong bond. Pratibha never gets into political developments, but Ajit's case was related to the family,” Pawar said in his book.
After meeting Pratibha Pawar, Ajit expressed regret and admitted that whatever happened was wrong and should not have happened, and "this was enough for us and this brought curtains downs on the whole episode,” the veteran politician said.
Ajit Pawar later became deputy chief minister in the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government and is now the Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra assembly.
His decision to make Ajit deputy chief minister stood vindicated by the latter's work during the coronavirus pandemic, Pawar wrote.