After poor show in municipal elections: Ajit, Sharad Pawar meet up in Baramati, discuss ‘bumpy” road ahead

However, Sule confirmed to this paper that a meeting between leaders of both the parties did take place. “Leaders from both NCPs held a meeting and discussed a range of issues,” Sule said when asked about it.

When contacted, NCP State president Sunil Tatkare said, “I am in Mumbai and not aware whether leaders of both the parties met.”

An NCP leader said, “Both parties discussed the poor performance in the civic elections and expressed the need to come together to overcome future challenges.”

State NCP (SP) president, Shashikant Shinde, who also attended the meeting, told reporters that both NCPs would fight the ensuing Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samiti elections together. “We had come to Baramati to discuss the possibility of contesting ZP and Panchayat Samiti elections together like we contested the municipal corporation elections,” he said.

Speaking to reporters, Shinde said, “Wherever possible, we will jointly contest civic elections… In some places, we will fight on our own,” he said.

When Ajit Pawar was asked about Shinde’s comment, he said, “I don’t know what Shinde told you about the ZP elections. I will collect information regarding it. But it should be remembered that we delegated the responsbility regarding forging alliances to local leaders and office-bearers.”

When asked after the visit of industrialist Gautam Adani to Baramati and if the two NCPs would come together, Ajit Pawar shot back,”Gautam Adani had come to Baramati to inaugurate the AI building, he is an industrialist. How is the visit of the industrialist related to any change in the politics?”

Asked whether the two Pawar families would come together, “That is our internal matter. As a family, we are togther. We are together in our good times and bad times.”

Speaking about the humiliating defeat of both the NCPs in the civic elections in Pune city and Pimpri-Chinchwad, Ajit Pawar said, “The people’s mandate is paramount… We have accepted it with all respect. I want to congratulate all the winners and wish them good luck for their future endeavours. Where ever we have failed, we will try to win people’s confidence… We will work with renewed vigour, honesty and responsibility.”

Ajit Pawar said BJP had good success. “The voter is king. We have to make efforts to win. Everyone made an effort, but the BJP got outstanding success and therefore they deserve all appreciation. The BJP fought elections under the leadership of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and they got success… Others lost but they should not get disheartened. They should keep working,” he said.

About reasons for NCP’s lost, Ajit Pawar said, “We will analyse the loss and find out the reasons. Even the media was saying the atmosphere was in our favour. We went wrong and so did the media.”

He refused to speak about the objections raised about EVMs. He also parried questions related to ink getting erased.

The Deputy Chief Minister said all those who win in this elections should give priority to citizens’ problems and speed up the implementation of welfare schemes. “At the same time, those who lost should not lose heart. They should keep working for the people,” he said.

The NCP (SP) too said they have the people’s mandate in the civic elections. “We have accepted the people’s mandate… In the ensuing elections, we will ensure that our votes do not get divided,” he said.

Asked whether they discussed the possibility of a merger of the two NCPs during their meeting today, Shinde said, “The merger issue was not discussed… We had come here to discuss the possibility of contesting the ensuing elections togther.”