New Delhi: Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Monday claimed that Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar recently told him that the way Shiv Sena was broken with the help of ED, CBI, EOW, and Police, the same tactics are now being used to break NCP.
"NCP MLAs are under pressure, they are being threatened. Some people may leave the party under pressure but NCP will not align with the BJP," Sanjay Raut quoted Sharad Pawar as saying reported ANI.
Recently, Raut in his weekly column 'Rokhthok' in the party mouthpiece Saamana claimed, "(Sharad) Pawar told Uddhav Thackeray during their meeting (on Tuesday) that nobody wants to switch over. But, family is being targeted. If anyone takes a personal decision to leave, it is their individual issue. But we as a party will never go with the BJP." "There is tremendous anger among people of Maharashtra against the present state government. Any one joining the BJP will be committing political suicide. This is what Thackeray and Pawar felt," the Rajya Sabha member wrote.
He made the comments in the wake of speculations that senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar may break ranks to join hands with the ruling BJP in the state.
However, Ajit Pawar, who is the leader of the opposition in the state Assembly, dubbed such speculations as baseless and denied meeting Union Home Minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah in Mumbai on Saturday night.
Raut further claimed that Sharad Pawar during the meeting with former chief minister Thackeray said he would like to tell those who want to switch over that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) "files" will go in a cupboard from the table, but will never be closed.
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Thackeray's Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Congress are constituents of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in the state.