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 at the latter’s office in the state Assembly, Sharad Pawar’s party stepped in to calm the political storm.
Calling it a “storm in a cup of tea”, NCP (SP) MP and Sharad Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule downplayed the significance of the meeting and said that too much importance was being given to it.
“It was just a short courtesy meeting. Nothing more,” Sule said on Friday.
Sule also dismissed suggestions that one of her party members is pushing for a switch to the NDA. “I am in constant contact with all eight of our deputies. We are all united,” she told reporters.
Reacting to the Shiv Sena’s (UBT) harsh remarks over the Pawar-Shinde meeting, Sule called it a “misunderstanding”. “I spoke to Sanjay Raut. It was a misunderstanding. We are doing well now,” she said.
Sena UBT leader Sanjay Raut on Thursday questioned Sharad Pawar about meeting Shinde and holding his party’s meeting at the Deputy Chief Minister’s office. Calling Shinde a “traitor”, Raut said meeting him would undermine Sharad Pawar’s authority. He also added that all allies suffered from this development of events.
But on Thursday, Raut clarified that the party is no longer angry with Pawar. Calling Sharad Pawar the “tallest leader” of the Aghadi alliance, he clarified that he expressed the emotions of party workers regarding the meeting. He, however, reiterated that Eknath Shinde should remain untouchable for MBA allies.
“Shinde is a traitor. We shouldn’t give him legitimacy by meeting him. We cannot be seen drinking tea with a traitor,” Raut said.
Sharad Pawar visited the Maharashtra Assembly on Wednesday to attend a crucial meeting on the border dispute between Maharashtra and Karnataka chaired by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
After the meeting, he went to meet Shinde at his office in the meeting room. He even hosted a meeting of his party’s legislators there, sparking wild speculation.
Apart from the UBT Sena, another Pawar ally in the Congress also stirred the pot by saying that some NCP(SP) MPs wanted to switch sides.
“Five or six legislators from Sharad Pawar’s NCP are restless. It is unclear what they will do but they are currently in a state of instability,” said senior Congress leader and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan.
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,” said NCP (SP) MLA Jayant Patil.
“It is wrong to continue making such predictions about another party. What would happen if I started making similar predictions about Congress MLAs tomorrow? It is inappropriate to talk about such things until something actually happens,” the MLA said.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi suffered a critical blow in the Sen UBT rebellion when six of the nine MPs defected to the Shinde camp.