New Delhi: Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, along with some other ministers from his Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) faction met party veteran Sharad Pawar at the YB Chavan Centre on Sunday. Speaking on the development, BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis said they must have gone to visit the NCP supremo since Sharad Pawar was their leader for many years. “Since years Sharad Pawar was their leader so they must have gone to meet him, no big deal in it,” news agency ANI quoted Fadnavis as saying.
NCP-Sharad Pawar camp leader Jayant Patil, while talking about the visit told ANI, “We are not in the government, some people have gone to the other side and they have supported the government, but we have not supported the government. There has been a division in our party. These are facts. All of us working under the leadership of Sharad Pawar will sit with Shiv Sena and Congress in the Vidhan Sabha.”
“If all these ministers (who joined who the Maharashtra government) return to our party, then I will be very happy about this as the president of Maharashtra NCP,” Patil added.
It is to be noted that this was the first meeting between Sharad Pawar and the Ajit Pawar-led NCP faction after he rebelled against his uncle and joined the Eknath Shinde government on July 2.
According to a PTI report, Ajit Pawar went to meet Sharad Pawar with other NCP ministers including Hasan Mushrif, Chhagan Bhujbal, Aditi Tatkare and Dilip Walse Patil.
Just two days back, Ajit Pawar arrived at the Silver Oak residence of the NCP chief in Mumbai following the discharge of senior Pawar's wife from the hospital post-surgery.
It is said that the junior Pawar is close to his aunt. In 2019, when he joined hands with Devendra Fadnavis for a short term as Deputy Chief Minister, it was his aunty only who played a significant role in bringing him back to the NCP side, as per a PTI report.