I sit next to NCP chief Ajit Pawar in cabinet, but vomit after coming out: Shiv Sena mantri Tanaji Sawant

MUMBAI: In a major embarrassment for the Mahayuti govt, Shiv Sena minister Tanaji Sawant on Thursday said he has never got along with the NCP leadership and merely being in their proximity induces an adverse physical reaction: Sawant said he sits next to the NCP (Ajit Pawar) in the cabinet but when he comes out of the meeting, he throws up.

"I have never got along with the NCP all my life, we sit next to each other, but when we come out, we vomit. I am a hardcore Shiv Sainik. I have never got along with Congress and NCP in my life. I have never gotten along since I was a student. This is the reality. Today, even if I sit in the cabinet with them (NCP), I vomit after coming out. I can't stand it," Sawant said while speaking at a public event.

The reaction from NCP leaders was relatively mild. "Tanaji Sawant does not know what causes vomiting. Tanaji Sawant is the health minister, health would have something to do with it. But being in the Mahayuti, if they are vomiting, only Eknath Shinde can tell us what is causing it," said NCP (Ajit Pawar) MLC Amol Mitkari.

Sawant's statements have led to controversies in the past too. Last year, Sawant who is the state public health minister from the Shiv Sena, told a senior police officer in Dharashiv (Osmanabad) district that he does not even listen to the chief minister, so the officer will have to do as Sawant says. In a video that went viral, he was seen speaking to Dharashiv superintendent of police Atul Kulkarni and purportedly insisting on the transfer of a police inspector (PI) in the district.

Earlier in March, Sawant had said that as many as 100 to 150 meetings were held with the support of Devendra Fadnavis and Eknath Shinde to convince a section of Shiv Sena MLAs to topple the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) govt. Sawant said Uddhav Thackeray did not give him a cabinet berth in 2019 and enraged by that, he engineered a rebellion in Sena in Jan 2020. Sawant said he started by forming an alliance with BJP in the Dharashiv Zilla Parishad.