The Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar will remain with the INDIA alliance, said Congress’ Maharashtra unit chief Nana Patole on Wednesday amid the media reports of state Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar offered Sharad Pawar a berth in Union Cabinet.
Earlier, media reports claimed that former Maharashtra chief minister, Prithviraj Chavan said a central cabinet berth had been offered to NCP stalwart Sharad Pawar or his daughter Supriya Sule.
Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole said, “Sharad Pawar has said that he will remain with the INDIA alliance. I trust that he will go with the INDIA alliance…”
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In the meantime, Supriya Sule reacted to the claim, saying no one has approached her with an offer of a portfolio. Though she said the party leaders should introspect on why they were making such statements.
On being asked about an offered Cabinet post by BJP, NCP leader Supriya Sule said, “No one has offered me anything nor had a conversation with me…You should ask them (Maharashtra Congress leaders) why they are giving such statements. I have no idea. I am personally in touch with the senior Congress leaders like Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, and Gaurav Gogoi but I am not in touch with their leaders in Maharashtra.”
The development began when on Wednesday, Congress leader and the Leader of the Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly, Vijay Wadettiwar, questioned the recent meeting between Sharad Pawar and his nephew Ajit Pawar.
Wadettiwar said, “Why is Ajit Pawar frequently meeting Sharad Pawar? The BJP’s position in the state has improved even after they engineered a split in two parties (NCP, Shiv Sena). Hence, they are having to turn to Sharad Pawar as he is a mass leader. Without his help, the BJP won’t win more Lok Sabha seats from the state next year.”
“Another reason (for the meetings) is that Narendra Modi has told Ajit Pawar that he cannot become the chief minister unless he can convince Sharad Pawar to come on board (join NDA),” Wadettiwar said.
Apart from Wadettiwar, Patole on Monday hit out at Deputy CM Ajit Pawar and his uncle over the secret meeting held at Pune, alleging such meetings were creating confusion among the people.
“Such meetings are creating confusion among the people. If they are relatives, what was the need for them to meet secretly?” he said.
Earlier in June Ajit Pawar, along with 8 loyalist MLAs, engineered a split in the NCP. He later joined the ruling NDA government in the state, with Ajit Pawar taking oath as the deputy chief minister.
With agency inputs.
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Updated: 16 Aug 2023, 08:19 PM IST