Lagatar24 Desk
Mumbai, July 16: Ajit Pawar, the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, unexpectedly visited Sharad Pawar at the YB Chavan Center today and asked for his “blessings” in what was perceived as an effort to appease the founder of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), exactly two weeks after the rebellion.
Ajit Pawar and eight NCP MLAs took their oaths of office as ministers on July 2. The Sharad Pawar-led group broke apart as a result of the unexpected decision.
“We all have come to take blessings from our God Sharad Pawar. We got to know that Pawar saheb was here. So we took the opportunity and came here to take his blessings,” senior leader Praful Patel said.
“We requested Sharad Pawar that the NCP should stay united. But he did not react,” Patel said after the hour-long meeting, a day before the start of the Maharashtra Assembly’s monsoon session.
Sharad Pawar and the rebel NCP MLAs met for the first time after Ajit Pawar parted with his uncle and joined the Eknath Shinde-led administration on July 2.
Along with Praful Patel and Sunil Tatkare, all nine of the MLAs who took the oath were present at the meeting. The Sharad Pawar faction’s Supriya Sule, Jayant Patil, and Jitendra Awhad were also present.
Following Pratibha Pawar’s surgery at a local hospital, Ajit Pawar recently paid a visit to Silver Oak, the NCP supremo’s official residence, to see the latter’s wife.
His aunt Pratibha and Ajit Pawar are believed to be close. She reportedly played a significant role in getting him back to the NCP in 2019, when he and Devendra Fadnavis established a short-lived government in the wake of the Assembly elections.
