MUMBAI: The friendship between NCP's Ajit Pawar and BJP's Devendra Fadnavis has indeed survived for a long time. It all began in the run-up to the 2014 assembly elections when BJP had alleged a Rs 70,000 crore scam in the irrigation department. It was, in fact, BJP's poll plank. During BJP's five-year rule, no substance was found in the charges, following which Ajit Pawar was granted a clean chit.
After the 2019 assembly election results, when there was lack of consensus, Fadnavis quietly joined hands with Pawar to form the government, which lasted for less than 72 hours. Later, with the intervention of Sharad Pawar and Sonia Gandhi, Uddhav Thackeray was elected as the chief minister and Fadnavis was elected leader of the opposition.
