I had managed that one vote which brought down Vajpayee govt. in 1999: Sharad Pawar

Sharad Pawar reveals pivotal role in bringing down Vajpayee government with one vote, sparking political controversy.

Referring to the no-confidence motion brought against the government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 1999, NCP SP president Sharad Pawar has said that he had managed that one vote in favour of the Opposition, which had brought down the Vajpayee government at that time. He was speaking at an event in New Delhi.

“For one year, I was the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha. It was Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government in the Centre. We had proposed a no-confidence motion at that time. The motion was passed too. We won it by one vote, I won’t tell you whose. We tabled the proposal. There was a discussion over it. And then, there was a break for 10 minutes. In those 10 minutes, I went out and spoke to someone. After I came back, one person from the government took a different decision. And the government came down due to that one vote. At that time, the responsibility of the Leader of the Opposition was with me,” Mr. Pawar said while launching a book at a private event in New Delhi on Thursday.

Shiv Sena UBT leaders Sanjay Raut and Anil Desai were among those present on the dais at the time of the speech. BJP Maharashtra leaders hit back at Mr. Pawar on Friday, on a day when the leader shared stage with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.

“Sharad Pawar likes creating a larger-than-life image of himself. He relishes the politics of horse trading, of breaking away leaders. The only reason why Vajpayee government had fallen by one vote was because of BJP’s and Atalji’s morality. They had refused to indulge in the kind of horse trading that Manmohan Singh had done with the help of Sharad Pawar in the year 2008. By narrating this incident of 1999 now, Sharad Pawar has in fact shown how he was responsible for the decimation of political values and culture in the country,” BJP leader Atul Bhatkhalkar said.

He also challenged the Shiv Sena UBT leaders to speak against Mr. Pawar on this. “It was Balasaheb Thackeray who had supported the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. Does the Shiv Sena UBT today have the courage to speak about it?” he asked.