"No compulsion or compromise...": Ajit Pawar opens up on joining NDA

Pune: Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Tuesday said that his decision to join the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance was not a compulsion or a compromise, adding that his idea of development aligns with the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In a candid conversation with ANI during which he shared his thoughts in the lead-up to his floating a rival NCP alliance with his loyalists and eventually joining the ruling NDA in the state as the deputy chief minister, Ajit Pawar said, "There was no compulsion and neither was it compromise. I always think about development. Who is driving the country's development today? It is PM Modi. I worked against him in 2014 and 2019 (Lok Sabha elections), but if you see today, and as PM Modi, himself said yesterday (on the campaign trail in Maharashrtra), we accomplished the same amount of work in one year as was done in the 10 years under (former PM) Manmohan Singh. He has also been working for the upliftment and well-being of the poor and backward sections. In the last 10 years, not one allegation has been levelled against PM Modi."
Triggering another seismic event in the landscape of Maharashtra politics on July 2, last year, the nephew of NCP patriarch Sharad Pawar floated a rival faction, which joined the BJP-led NDA. Ajit Pawar took oath as the deputy chief minister for the fifth time.
Claiming that the Opposition bloc--INDIA--had no prime ministerial face, he said there was no one who could rival PM Modi on the yardsticks of leadership and popularity.
"More than 65 per cent of people in the country are saying that they want PM Modi to return for a third term. There was a lot of talk around Nitish Kumar (rivalling PM Modi for the country's most powerful post) in 2019 but he is with the NDA now. Presently, the Opposition has no one to take on PM Modi. There is simply no comparison between him and Rahul Gandhi," the NCP leader said.
The deputy CM said the ruling 'Mahayuti' (alliance of the BJP, the Shiv Sena under Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar's NCP) was formed to take the agenda of 'development' of the state forward.
"Everyone (in his NCP faction) took the decision (to join the NDA) collectively. It wasn't motivated by a desire to be ministers but to take the agenda of the development of Maharashtra forward. I have said this time and time again that the decision was for the sake of development and nothing else," Ajit Pawar said.
He added that people across the country have made up their minds to bring the BJP-led NDA under PM Modi back for a third term at the Centre.
"The people are according a rousing reception to PM Modi wherever he goes. He has been asking the people to demonstrate their electoral support for his vision and agenda of development. He has been telling the people why they should vote for us. It's clear that the people have made up their minds to bring him back for a third term," the deputy CM said.
A total of 11 Lok Sabah seats in Maharashtra will be polling in the third phase on May 7.
Of the 48 seats, voting for 13 was completed in the first and second phases.