Party Had 5 meetings With BJP Before Joining Shiv Sena, Claims Ajit Pawar

Ajit Pawar, who won today's show of strength hands down, said Sharad Pawar changed his mind about joining the BJP in 2019 after the Nationalist Congress Party had five rounds of meetings with them. "They (Sharad Pawar camp) called Shiv Sena a casteist party in 2017 and formed a government with them in 2019… I don't know why I am being made a villain," he added.

"In 2019, we had 5 meetings with BJP to form the government and all of a sudden, I was informed that there won't be any alliance with BJP, we will go with Shiv Sena," said the 63-year-old, who managed to gather 29 of the party's 53 MLAs under his banner today. The Sharad Pawar faction had only 17. Some of the MLAs appeared to have attended both camps.