This story is from July 14, 2020

Backed BJP in 2014 to keep Sena away from it: Pawar

Targeting BJP in the wake of trouble in the Congress government in Rajasthan, NCP chief Sharad Pawar said ‘Operation Lotus’ was aimed at destabilising non-BJP governments by misusing power. However, he said ‘Operation Lotus’ would not work against the Uddhav Thackeray government in Maharashtra.
Backed BJP in 2014 to keep Sena away from it: Pawar
MUMBAI: Targeting BJP in the wake of trouble in the Congress government in Rajasthan, NCP chief Sharad Pawar said ‘Operation Lotus’ was aimed at destabilising non-BJP governments by misusing power. However, he said ‘Operation Lotus’ would not work against the Uddhav Thackeray government in Maharashtra.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi government would complete its five-year term and “if all goes well Sena, NCP and Congress will contest the next polls together,” Pawar said in the third and final instalment of his interview to Saamna, the Sena mouthpiece.

In June, opposition leader Devendra Fadnavis had claimed Pawar was part of discussions to form a BJP-NCP government in November 2019. Pawar refuted the claim and said NCP had clearly rejected the BJP’s offer to form the government in Maharashtra in November 2019. Pawar also said he had declared support from outside to BJP in 2014 to form the government as part of his political strategy to keep Sena at a distance from BJP. “I admit we had taken conscious steps to widen the gap between BJP and Shiv Sena,” he said. tnn
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