'Ajit Pawar Trying To Break Oppn MPs': Sanjay Raut Says NCP's Praful Patel, Sunil Tatkare 'Engineering Defections'
Sanjay Raut's comment came after NCP leader Amol Mitkati said that some Lok Sabha members from the Sharad Pawar-led NCP were in contact with Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Wednesday has claimed that Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is trying to split the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP), promising cabinet berths to its MPs.
Raut's comment came after NCP leader Amol Mitkati said that some Lok Sabha members from the Sharad Pawar-led NCP were in contact with Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar.
Senior NCP leader Praful Patel and Sunil Tatkare had been assigned the task of engineering defections in the Sharad Pawar-led faction, Raut told reporters on Wednesday.
NCP (SP) MLA and former state minister Jitendra Awhad also claimed that Sunil Tatkare, state chief of the Ajit Pawar-led NCP, had asked MPs of the rival faction to leave the father and daughter.
Ajit-led NCP has only one Lok Sabha MP, Tatkare, while the rival NCP (SP) has eight Lok Sabha MPs.
Raut said that Ajit Pawar's camp will not get any post in the Union cabinet unless they manage to secure defections from the Sharad Pawar-led faction.
The allegations from the NCP (SP) and Shiv Sena (UBT) come days after calls for the reunion of the rival Nationalist Congress Party, led by Deputy CM Ajit Pawar and his uncle Sharad Pawar.
Ajit Pawar's mother Asha Pawar and senior NCP leader Praful Patel are among the leaders of the Ajit Pawar's faction that have called for a reunion of the rival NCP camps.
On the possibility of the two NCP factions coming together, Jitendra Awhad said, "If both NCPs are to come together, why did Sunil Tatkare make an offer to our Lok Sabha members to switch sides? His offer was to `leave father-daughter aside and come to us'....I think Tatkare himself does not want both the Pawars to reunite." Tatkare was referring to Sharad Pawar and his daughter Baramati MP Supriya Sule.
Meanwhile, Jitendra Awhad claimed that the reports of the imminent reunion of the two NCP factions was aimed at putting pressure on BJP ally and JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar, by sending a message that the BJP government at the Centre could get support from other quarters.
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