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Maharashtra deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Wednesday said he would have brought the entire Nationalist Congress Party with him had the Bharatiya Janata Party and Shiv Sena offered him the chief minister's post.
Speaking at the launch of Yoddha Karmayogi - Eknath Sambhaji Shinde, a biography of the current chief minister, Pawar noted in a lighter vein that in politics he was senior to both CM Shinde and fellow deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis.
Shinde and Fadnavis were also present at the book launch.
Pawar rebelled against his uncle Sharad Pawar in July 2023 and joined the BJP-Sena government by splitting the NCP.
"All went ahead and I trailed behind," Ajit Pawar said, noting that Fadnavis first became an MLA in 1999 and Shinde in 2004, while he first became a member of the state assembly way back in 1990.
Fadnavis served as chief minister twice, from 2014 to 2019 and for 72 hours in 2019 when Ajit Pawar joined hands with him in a short-lived alliance government.
"I told a few people jokingly that when you (an apparent reference to the BJP) told Eknath Shinde to come along with these many MLAs and he would be made chief minister.....You should have asked me. I would have brought the entire party along," quipped Pawar.
"Whatever happens in life is planned by destiny," Pawar said with a mock seriousness, evoking laughter.
The NCP chief has not concealed his ambition to occupy the top post in the state in the past.
Shinde led a rebellion with 39 MLAs against then Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray in 2022 which led to the collapse of the Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government. Shinde then became the chief minister.
Pawar said he has seen several chief ministers, but none like Shinde who is surrounded by people all the time.
Speaking on the occasion, Fadnavis noted that he himself is someone who became chief minister, leader of Opposition and then a deputy chief minister during a single assembly term (between 2019 and 2024).
Similarly, Pawar became deputy chief minister, the leader of Opposition and again a deputy chief minister during the same period, he said.
Speaking to reporters later, CM Shinde expressed confidence that his government would retain power after the assembly elections, thanks to its focus on development and welfare schemes over the past two years.
"The Mahayuti government has worked as a team, prioritizing both development and welfare schemes," he said.
He also announced that funds under the 'Ladki Bahin Yojana' would be credited to the accounts of eligible women across the state before the Raksha Bandhan festival.