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Former union minister and Shiv Sena leader Anant Geete on Monday called Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar a "backstabber" and referred to the formation of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government an "adjustment".
Addressing a public rally at Raigad, Geete said, "Sharad Pawar cannot ever be our leader as this government (MVA) is mere an adjustment. Let people use as many accolades for Pawar but our 'guru' is only (late) Balasaheb Thackeray." "The NCP was formed by backstabbing Congress. When 2 Congress parties cannot become a single party, how can Shiv Sena become Congress? Even if the MVA government comes at Centre and State, we can't be Aghadi Sainiks. We will remain Shiv Sainiks," he added. Speaking further, the former union minister said, "What is Shiv Sena? What is the responsibility of Shiv Sainiks today? While we have a Chief Minister [from Shiv Sena], we [Shiv Sainiks] cannot regard the rest of the government in which the Congress and the NCP are part of as ours." After the fallout between Shiv Sena and BJP in the 2019 Assembly elections over the chief ministerial post, Uddhav Thackeray's party joined hands with Congress and the NCP to form the government in the state. Sharad Pawar played a crucial role in bringing Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP together to form the 'Maha Vikas Aghadi' alliance. Notably, the NCP was formed on May 25, 1999, by Sharad Pawar, P A Sangma and Tariq Anwar after they were expelled from the Indian National Congress (INC) for raking up Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin and her credentials to become the Prime Minister of India.(ANI)
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