Team News Riveting
Mumbai, July 16
In a surprising political move, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar along with Prafulla Patel and others on Sunday met Nationalist Congress Party patriarch Sharad Pawar.
This is the first meeting after Ajit Pawar along with Patel and MLAs recently rebelled against his uncle to join the BJP-led government in Maharashtra. They paid a surprise visit to Pawar along with all NCP ministers at YB Chavan centre on Sunday.
The development comes a day before the commencement of monsoon session of the Maharashtra Assembly. Besides Ajit Pawar and Patel, Chhagan Bhujbal, Aditi Tatkare, Hasan Mashrif and others were present.
“Today we met our God and our leader Sharad Pawar to take his blessings,” Praful Patel said as the rebels emerged from the meeting. We came here without asking for an appointment. We understood Sharad Pawar reached here for a meeting and that’s why we all came here to take his blessings,” Praful Patel quoted NDTV as saying.
Patel, a long-time confidante of the NCP chief, whose betrayal reportedly hurt senior Pawar the most, said he also requested Sharad Pawar that all of them respect him a lot but NCP should be together, and even he should think properly about this and help them in the future. “Sharad Pawar didn’t reply to us, he just kept on listening to what we were saying and after meeting him, we are going back,” he said.
Sharad Pawar camp’s Jayant Patil confirmed that the rebels expressed regret over the division within the party, and appealed to the senior leader to find a solution to the issue so that the party remains united. He, too, said Sharad Pawar listened, but said nothing to them.
Jayant Patil further claimed they have 20 MLAs and some are supporting both sides. “All of them agree to the ideology of Sharad Pawar,” he added.
Two days ago, Ajit Pawar visited Silver Oak, the official residence of the NCP supremo, to meet his aunt Pratibha Pawar after she was discharged from hospital following a surgery at the Breach Candy Hospital in south Mumbai on Friday.
Ajit Pawar is known to be close to his aunt Pratibha. In 2019, she reportedly played a crucial role in bringing him back to the NCP fold after he and Devendra Fadnavis formed a short-lived government post the Assembly polls.
