A day after he met nephew and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar in Pune, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar on Sunday maintained his party would not join hands with Ajit’s ally BJP. But Pawar’s Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies Congress and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) went into a huddle and asked him to clear the “confusion” such meetings create. “NCP’s political stand does not include joining hands with the BJP. None of us are with the BJP. Some of our colleagues have taken a different position and therefore a few friends of ours are trying to reconcile and check if that changed position can be reversed. For that, they are trying to communicate with us. But I want to clearly state in my capacity as the national president of the NCP that there is no question of the NCP allying with the BJP,” Pawar said at an event in Sangola in Solapur district. The NCP leader made the comments after attending a function organised by the family of Ganpatrao Deshmukh, who was an 11-time Sangola MLA from the Peasants and Workers Party. Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis of the BJP also attended the event. “Ajit is my nephew. I am the eldest person in the Pawar family. Meeting a younger person in the family or calling him to meet is nothing wrong,” said the NCP chief. Asked the reason for the secrecy if it was a family meeting, Pawar said, “What secret meeting? Instead of meeting at my place, we met at someone's house. Does that make it secret?” When reporters asked the NCP chief about his reply to the Election Commission that there was no split in the NCP, Pawar said he stands by the reply. Pawar’s clarification about the meeting with Ajit, which followed similar ones between the two last month, did not assuage the uneasiness among his allies. State Congress president Nana Patole met Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray at the latter’s home in Mumbai for over two-and-a-half hours. “We discussed the current political situation in the state. The misinformation spread about Sharad Pawar was also discussed. We feel that there should not be any confusion among people and MVA workers about the meeting between Sharad and Ajit Pawar. We believe that the people look at the MVA as a united front and no confusion should be created about us. We both (Congress and Sena) are ensuring that,” Patole told reporters. Shiv Sena (UBT) spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut told The Indian Express, “I was also present at the meeting between Nana Patole and Uddhav Thackeray. We are unanimous in our view that Sharad Pawar should set the record straight once and for all. He should remove the confusion regarding his faction’s stand … His meeting in this fashion will only create confusion in the minds of the voters, which will prove costly for the MVA in the ensuing elections.” Raut said he would speak to Pawar about this. “The MVA will prefer to have a clear-cut stand from Sharad Pawar on this count. If something like this continues, the confusion among voters will continue to grow and will prove harmful to us. The ball is in the court of senior Pawar to declare a firm stand with regard to the Ajit Pawar camp and the BJP.” The Pawars met on Saturday afternoon at real estate developer Atul Choradiya’s home in Pune’s Koregaon Park area. NCP state president Jayant Patil, who is still with the Pawar camp and has denied rumours about moving to Ajit’s side, was also present, according to sources. The meeting is said to have lasted four hours. Visuals aired by regional news channels showed Pawar arriving at Choradiya’s home around 1 pm. He left around 5 pm. Ajit was seen leaving the premises at 6.45 pm. “It was not a secret meeting. I also went to the meeting but I left. I don't know what was discussed at the meeting,” Patil said. The latest report of contact between the Pawars comes weeks after at least four meetings between them. The uncle and nephew met thrice in as many days in the second week of July, triggering speculation. At the time, Pawar’s MVA allies explained these as the Ajit group’s attempts to limit the damage it had inflicted on itself. At the time, the NCP chief ruled out joining hands with the BJP. In the run-up to the Lokmanya Tilak National Award ceremony on August 1, some leaders of Pawar’s NCP group and his allies attempted to dissuade him from attending the event where he was scheduled to felicitate Prime Minister Narendra Modi and share the stage with Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde, Ajit, and Fadnavis. At the time, Raut said Pawar would send the wrong signal by attending the event. “It will create confusion in the minds of the people and the NCP workers and supporters. It will mean that Ajit Pawar has the support of the NCP national president.” But the NCP president refused to meet the delegation and attended the event, drawing criticism from his allies. — With PTI inputs
