Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and leaders from his faction met senior leader Sharad Pawar at the YB Chavan Centre in Mumbai amid the Election Commission (EC) battle between the two factions over holding the reins of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). In the second meet, as the first happened on Sunday, Sharad Pawar again listened to the rebel NCP leaders but did not say anything, Praful Patel, who was a top aide to senior Pawar but later joined the Ajit-led rebellion, said.
Praful Patel said only Ajit Pawar, Sunil Tatkare and he met Sharad Pawar and requested him to keep the NCP united. “Today, Ajit Pawar, Sunil Tatkare and I met Sharad Pawar at YB Chavan Centre. We again requested him to keep NCP united, and he listened to us but did not say anything on it,” Praful Patel said.
The same meeting between the two factions was also held on Sunday. After the Sunday meeting, Praful Patel had said that Sharad Pawar only listened to the Ajit Pawar-led faction but didn’t say anything. “Those MLAs (of the Ajit Pawar faction) who could not meet Sharad Pawar during the meeting held on Sunday were present on this occasion,” he said.
This unscheduled meeting between Sharad Pawar and the Ajit Pawar camp was the first one after he rebelled against his uncle and joined the Shiv Sena-BJP government on July 2. Besides Ajit Pawar, ministers Hasan Mushrif, Chhagan Bhujbal, Aditi Tatkare, and Dilip Walse Patil met the Pawar senior at the YB Chavan Centre in south Mumbai.
On Friday, Ajit Pawar, who shares a close bond with his aunt Pratibha Pawar, paid a visit to Silver Oak, the official residence of the NCP supremo. Ajit Pawar’s visit came after Pratibha underwent surgery at a local hospital. Their relationship holds significance as Pratibha reportedly played a pivotal role in bringing Ajit back to the NCP in 2019, following his brief alliance with Devendra Fadnavis to form a short-lived government after the Assembly polls.
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Updated: 17 Jul 2023, 05:55 PM IST