Together on stage first time after split, Ajit refrains from greeting uncle Sharad 

Later, Governor Ramesh Bais, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy Chief Ministers Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar came onto the stage ahead of the PM’s arrival.

The Governor, Shinde and Fadnavis greeted Sharad Pawar as they were passing by and shook hands with the NCP chief, but Ajit Pawar avoided a direct meeting with the veteran leader and went straight to his chair. Ajit Pawar was seated 6 seats away from Sharad Pawar among the 11 persons seated on the stage. Once the event was over, Ajit Pawar did the same while leaving the stage.

The NCP split when Ajit Pawar joined the BJP- Sena alliance government. He also attended the meeting of NDA called by the PM recently, while the NCP chief decided to join the alliance of Opposition parties to take on the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Ajit Pawar was attending the function in the capacity of Deputy CM along with the Governor, CM and the other Dy CM. Also on stage were Trustee Sushilkumar Shinde and four members of the Tilak family who are trustees.

“I don’t think it was intentional. The DY CM had to rush to attend other functions prior to and after the Tilak award function to be attended by the PM,” said Pradeep Deshmukh, city executive president of NCP led by Ajit Pawar.

When asked about Ajit Pawar avoiding the NCP chief, NCP spokesperson Ankush Kakade and close associate of Sharad Pawar said, “How can I say anything on it? Ajit Pawar is the only person who can speak on it.”

On the other hand, Modi first greeted the NCP chief soon after he stepped onto the stage. They shook hands and had a candid interaction. Modi, while leaving the stage at the end of the function, gave a pat on the back to Ajit Pawar with a smile.

This was the second time that Ajit Pawar was visiting Pune after joining hands with BJP–Sena. Last week, he visited Pune’s RSS office in Motibaug to pay homage to RSS veteran Madan Das Devi.

He had accompanied the CM Eknath Shinde at that time and met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in the city.

Incidentally, Ajit Pawar after parting ways with his uncle and claiming control over NCP had publicly stated that the veteran NCP leader was too aged and should retire from politics. However, the NCP chief had challenged the split saying he founded the party and would continue to lead it, while rejecting the demand of the split faction to listen to them to prevent them going separate ways.