Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule claimed on Wednesday that NCP supremo Sharad Pawar was willing to form an alliance with the BJP in 2019, but with a rider that Devendra Fadnavis should not be made chief minister.

"It was his (Pawar's) agenda that Fadnavis should not become Chief Minister of Maharashtra. He knew that if Fadnavis became CM, the NCP will be flattened. He experienced that in 2014 and 2019. He was okay with anyone else as CM," Bawankule told reporters.