A day after ally Shiv Sena (UBT) reacted sharply to the meeting between NCP (SP) patriarch Sharad Pawar and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Wednesday in the latter’s office inside the state Assembly, the Sharad Pawar’s party has stepped in to calm the political storm.
Calling it a “storm in a tea cup”, NCP (SP) MP and Sharad Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule played down the meeting and said that too much was being read into it.
“It was just a short courtesy meeting. Nothing more than that,” Sule said on Friday.
Sule also rejected the speculation that a camp in her party was pushing for a switch to the NDA. “I am in constant touch with all our eight MPs. We are all united,” she told reporters.
Reacting to Shiv Sena (UBT)’s strong remarks on the Pawar-Shinde meeting, Sule called it a “misunderstanding”. “I have spoken to Sanjay Raut. It was a misunderstanding. We are good now,’ she said.
Sena UBT leader Sanjay Raut had on Thursday questioned Sharad Pawar on meeting Shinde and holding his party’s meeting inside the Deputy Chief Minister’s office. Terming Shinde a “traitor” Raut had said that meeting him will hit Sharad Pawar’s credibility. He also added that all the allies were hurt with the development.
But on Thursday, Raut clarified that the party was not angry with Pawar anymore. Calling Sharad Pawar “tallest leader” of the Aghadi alliance, he clarified that he had expressed party workers’ emotions over the meeting. He, however, repeated that Eknath Shinde should be remain an untouchable for the MVA allies.
“Shinde is a traitor. We should not give him legitimacy by meeting him. We can’t be seen sipping tea with a traitor,” Raut said.
Sharad Pawar visited the Maharashtra Assembly on Wednesday to attend a crucial meeting on the Maharashtra-Karnataka border dispute chaired by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
After the meeting, he had gone to meet Shinde at his office in the assembly premises. He even took a meeting of his party’s legislators there, sparking intense speculation.
Apart from UBT Sena, other Pawar ally Congress also stirred the pot saying some NCP (SP) MPs wanted to switch sides.
“Five or six MPs from Sharad Pawar’s NCP are restless. It is unclear what they will do, but they are currently in a state of instability,” senior Congress leader and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said.
Sharad Pawar’s party, however, denied any rift and hit back at the Congress leader. “No one is going anywhere! Our 8 MPs and 10 MLAs are united,” NCP (SP) MLA Jayant Patil said.
“It is not right to keep making such predictions about another party. How would it be if I were to start making similar predictions about Congress MLAs tomorrow? It is not appropriate to speak about such matters until something actually happens,” the MLA said.
Maha Vikas Aghadi has been hit by a critical blow with the rebellion in the Sena UBT with six of its nine MPs switching to the Shinde camp.
