Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Aug 14: Even after some constituents of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance partners raised questions about the veteran leader Sharad Pawar repeatedly meeting his rebel nephew Ajit Pawar, the Nationalist Congress Party founder president claimed on Monday that there was no confusion in the MVA and the two-day meeting of the opposition united front Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) in Mumbai would be held as per schedule.
“There is no confusion among MVA partners. We are all together and will ensure the INDIA meeting in Mumbai on August 31 and September 1 is organised successfully,” Pawar told reporters in Baramati. “Myself, Uddhav Thackeray and State Congress president Nana Patole have taken the responsibility of organising the INDIA meeting in Mumbai,” Pawar said. The meeting will be held at a luxury hotel. He also requested media not to create more confusion by asking the same question over and over again.
Questions were raised about Sharad Pawar meeting the deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar at the residence of a businessman in Pune on Saturday which some leaders claimed was a “secret meeting.” The NCP Maharashtra unit president Jayant Patil had denied there was any secrecy behind the meeting and both he and Sharad Pawar had maintained it to be a mere “family gathering.” It was fourth such meeting between the uncle and his rebel nephew since Ajit Pawar took away a section of the sitting NCP MLAs with him to join the Eknath Shinde led Shiv Sena – BJP government in the state last month.
The MVA constituents Congress and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) had asked the NCP chief to clear the confusion such meetings between the uncle and nephew create in political circles. The Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), a key member of the Opposition alliance in Maharashtra, was not amused by Sharad Pawar’s meetings with Ajit Pawar weeks after his rebellion split the veteran’s party.
While senior Pawar has asserted that he has no plans to join hands with the BJP, his ally is making no bones about its disapproval with the meetings. Sanjay Raut, Rajya Sabha MP and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader, who earlier refused to give much weightage to the meeting, however, responded to Pawar’s remark that there was nothing wrong in his meeting his nephew.
“Sharad Pawar is saying Ajit Pawar is his nephew and can meet him. Why are their followers fighting on the streets then?” Raut asked. In what appeared to be a swipe at the veteran leader, he said, “We don’t put up appearances by sitting with another party’s leaders as our workers fight.”
The Team Thackeray leader described Sharad Pawar as the “Bhishma Pitamaha” of Maharashtra politics and said he “should not do anything that creates doubt in the minds of people.” Raut said they had spoken to Nana Patole over Pawar’s meeting with Ajit Pawar. Raut’s remarks come after his party’s mouthpiece Saamana said it was “amusing” to see Ajit Pawar frequently meeting Sharad Pawar and the latter not avoiding it. “There is a hunch that BJP’s ‘Chanakya’ is trying to create some confusion by sending Ajit to meet senior Pawar. However, such meetings tarnish the image of Sharad Pawar and it is not good,” it said.
The veteran politician has asserted that his meeting with Ajit Pawar is a family meeting and that he has no plans to change camps. Addressing the media following a meeting with this nephew, Pawar had said, “As the national president of the NCP, I am making it clear that my party (NCP) will not go with the BJP. Any association with the Bharatiya Janata Party does not fit in NCP’s political policy.” He added that some “well-wishers” are trying to persuade him but he will never align with the BJP.
Amid the flutter caused by the meeting, he said, “I want to tell you a fact that he is my nephew. What is wrong with meeting my nephew? If a senior person in a family desires to meet another family member, there should not be any issue with that. There’s nothing wrong if Ajit Pawar comes to meet me. We didn’t meet secretly.” The NCP has no association with “factions from MVA” which align with the BJP at the State and national level, Pawar had said alluding to the move by his nephew.
Mr. Pawar said he is expecting to speak to NCP leader Nawab Malik, who was on August 11 granted two months’ interim bail by the Supreme Court in a money laundering case. The Enforcement Directorate arrested the former minister on February 23 last year in a case registered over the Goawala compound property in Kurla, allegedly linked to gangster Dawood Ibrahim. Malik is in judicial custody since March 2022 and was admitted at a private hospital in Kurla in May last year. He is still at the hospital.