A day after Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar along with his uncle and NCP chief Sharad Pawar met several MLAs to seek their blessings, he today again met the party patriarch along with his supporters. Senior Pawar’s close aide Praful Patel, who rebelled with Ajit Pawar to join the BJP-Eknath Shinde government in Maharashtra, said several NCP cabinet ministers were not present during yesterday’s surprise visit as it was a Sunday. He said, “Met Sharad Pawar after the assembly session and he listened to us patiently.”
Earlier, rebel Ajit Pawar faction of NCP had met Sharad Pawar at YB Chavan Centre. Leaders of the Ajit faction said they requested the senior Pawar to consider keeping the party “united”. Pawar reportedly did not respond to the offer.
Ajit was accompanied by his faction’s working president Praful Patel, deputy speaker of the assembly Narhari Zirwal and ministers Chhagan Bhujbal, Dilip Walse Patil, Hasan Mushrif, Dhananjay Munde, Sanjay Bansode and Aditi Tatkare, among others. This was the second meeting between Ajit and his uncle in the last two days. On Friday, Ajit, after undergoing surgery for a minor injury, went to see Pawar’s wife Pratibha at his residence.
Reportedly, senior Pawar was seen very angry in the meeting. Sports Minister Sanjay Bansode and Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly Narhari Zirwal went down on their knees while seeking his “blessings”. Food and Civil Supplies Minister Chhagan Bhujbal said that Pawar “will continue to be his god, Lord Vitthal, and he should continue to bless him”.
On the other hand, the Pawar group believes that by meeting Sharad Pawar, the Ajit group is trying to garner sympathy from the people. There are two aspects to this. Firstly, it is not easy for all of them to break emotional ties with their leader. Second, as experienced by Bhujbal and other leaders, people in their constituencies have reacted with dismay to the split in the party. They are hoping that the anger will subside by meeting Pawar and expressing regret for his actions.
Another NCP leader said that having Sharad Pawar on their side is in every way beneficial for the rebel group, as many MLAs are still not comfortable going against the senior Pawar. “Even the BJP would like Pawar and Ajit to come together as it would help them achieve their goal of breaking opposition unity,” he said. Actually, Ajit, who was trying to bring the rest of the NCP MLAs to his side, had told him that if all the MLAs come in favor of Ajit, then Pawar will leave his stubbornness and come with him.
File Photo.
