Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar.
Credit: PTI photo
Amid resentment among the Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) over his nephew Ajit Pawar meeting him in Pune - in what was described as a “secret meeting”, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar on Monday said there is no confusion among the Maha Vikas Aghadi allies.
Pawar’s statement comes a fortnight ahead of the crucial 31 August-1 September Mumbai meet of I.N.D.I.A which would chart future course on how to politically tackle the BJP-led NDA.
Next week, Pawar, Shiv Sena (UBT) head Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Congress President Nana Patole are expected to visit the Grand Hyatt Hotel and oversee the arrangements for the much-awaited third meeting of the grand opposition bloc.
The first and second meetings were held in Patna (23 June) and Bengaluru (17-18 July), respectively - which set the ball in motion to have united opposition.
However, the internal developments in the MVA caused concern.
But Pawar, in his visit to his bastion of Baramati more than month after his nephew Ajit Pawar rebelled and joined the NDA camp to become the Deputy Chief Minister alongside BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis in the government led by Shiv Sena’s Eknath Shinde.
“There is no confusion among the MVA partners,” Pawar told reporters. “We are together and would successfully hold the meeting of I.N.D.I.A in Mumbai,” he added.
On his nephew’s move, he said that the NCP has no relations with factions from MVA which align with the BJP at state and central level.
After the split, Ajit Pawar has met his uncle around half a dozen times.
The Pune meeting was described as personal by Pawar saying that he is the family head.
He visited to see aunt Pratibha Pawar, who underwent a surgery - days after he switched to the NDA.
Thereafter, Ajit Pawar and Praful Patel had met him twice with the group of ministers and MLAs to seek his blessings.
In Pune, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was there to receive an award, the Pawar uncle-nephew shared the stage, during which Shinde and Fadnavis too were present.