PUNE: Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said that in today's scenario at the national level, he does not see any other political leader who is as strong as Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Speaking after an event in Purandar near Pune where he shared the dais with chief minister Eknath Shinde and his colleague deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis for 'Shasan Aplya Dari' (Government at your doorstep) program, Pawar said that both PM Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah were strong leaders. 

Notably, Shah had shared the stage with Pawar for the first time at an event in Pune on Sunday after Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) joined the BJP-Sena coalition government. In the gathering, Shah had said that Pawar was the right person for the development work and that after a long time, he was sitting in the right place.

In a bid to justify his decision to ditch the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) and join the BJP-Shiv Sena government, Pawar said that he had joined the government for development since development cannot happen while staying in opposition. MVA was formed after the 2019 Maharashtra assembly elections by three parties, Uddhav Thackeray led Sena, NCP and Congress with Thackeray becoming the chief minister.

Pawar said some might be criticising him for his decision, but a man can have a different opinion based on his experience of so many years.

Pawar said after becoming the deputy chief minister he was visiting the Purandar which was his neighbouring constituency (represented by Sanjay Jagtap of the Congress) and had yet not visited his own constituency of Baramati. Pawar is consecutively winning the Baramati assembly seat for 7 terms since 1991. Both Purandar and Baramati Assembly constituencies come under the Baramati Lok Sabha seat represented by NCP supremo Sharad Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule.

After a rebellion in NCP on 2 July, Ajit Pawar and MLAs loyal to him joined hands with the BJP-Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena in Maharashtra and took oath as ministers. 

Later, just like the Shiv Sena faction led by Eknath Shinde, his group had also claimed a stake as the real NCP and had written to the Election Commission of India (ECI) claiming the party name and poll symbol, saying that their faction has the support of a majority of MLAs.

Their letter further claimed that in a party meeting on June 30, his uncle Sharad Pawar was removed from the president’s post. The ECI had sought a reply from the Sharad Pawar group which has replied that Ajit Pawar's demand for the NCP's election symbol is 'premature' and 'malafide' and should be rejected.