Requested him to keep NCP united, says Praful Patel as Ajit faction leaders meet Sharad Pawar first time since rebellion

Patel said that all ministers will be working under the leadership of Ajit Pawar in the monsoon session of state legislature to begin from Monday, July 17.

#WATCH | We all came here to seek the blessings of respected Sharad Pawar today. We requested Pawar sahib that NCP should stay united. On this, Sharad Pawar did not give any reaction: Praful Patel, Ajit Pawar faction leader, at Mumbai’s YB Chavan Centre pic.twitter.com/lvgXV2AZdy

— ANI (@ANI) July 16, 2023

The meeting was also attended by Sharad Pawar loyalists Jayant Patil and Jitendra Awhad. Both the leaders left the meeting of Opposition parties held to discuss the strategy in the monsoon session of the state legislature. Before going to the meeting Patil said that he is going to Y B Chavan centre after receiving call from Supriya Sule.

After the meeting, Patil said, “The NCP ministers expressed apologies for the incidents that have happened and requested Pawar saheb to find a way out of it. He did not reply to their requests.” Patil said he and his group stands firm on the position taken and if those who have left decide to return would certainly be a happy development.

Hours before the meeting of NCP ministers with Sharad Pawar, Deputy CM Ajit Pawar had held a meeting of all NCP ministers. Sources said that Ajit had asked all ministers to avoid attacks on NCP colleagues who are still with Sharad Pawar. “He (Ajit) said that since we are in power now, there will be criticism of ours by NCP MLAs who are with Sharad Pawar. Despite this, we need not attack them in the same manner. Instead it would be wise to not indulge in name calling or attacking those MLAs with whom we have worked for so many years,” a minister told The Indian Express.

The meeting, however, comes on the background of stoic silence maintained by Sharad Pawar on political developments and public mood survey undertaken by a regional media house. The survey carried out by Sakal newspaper shows that 43.6% people have sided with Sharad Pawar while only 23.1% have opted for Ajit Pawar. Nearly 56.8% people have expressed unhappiness over NCP joining the Shinde-Fadnavis government compared to 20.4% who are happy over the decision.

On July 2, nine ministers including Ajit Pawar chose to join the state government against the wishes of Sharad Pawar. The breakaway group has claimed party name and symbol while it has said that it removed Sharad Pawar from the party president’s post on June 30.

Interestingly, in a meeting called on July 5 by Ajit Pawar and his supporters, the leaders had targeted Sharad Pawar with Patel even claiming that he would soon write a book exposing many things. Another senior leader Chhagan Bhujbal had claimed that Sharad Pawar was surrounded by a coterie and even went on to play the OBC card. Ajit Pawar too had gone on to ask his uncle and NCP president as to when he was retiring so as to allow younger generation to take control.