No meeting between Sunetra, Sharad Pawar: NCP

Mumbai, July 16 (IANS) The NCP has scotched reports over Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar’s wife Sunetra Pawar meeting senior leader Sharad Pawar at his Modi Baug residence in Pune on Tuesday.

After the news appeared on TV channels and went viral on social media, Maharashtra NCP Spokesperson Suraj Chavan clarified that there was no meeting between Rajya Sabha MP Sunetra Pawar and NCP(SP) President Sharad Pawar.

“Sunetra visited Modi Baug where our party President Ajit Pawar’s sister stays. She resides in another wing. So there is no truth in the reports of Sunetra meeting NCP(SP) chief Sharad Pawar,’’ said Suraj in his video message.

He appealed to the TV channels to stop showing the news in this regard, even as the NCP issued an immediate clarification to avoid any confusion among the cadres.

The news flash came a day after veteran NCP Minister Chhagan Bhujbal met senior leader Sharad Pawar at his Mumbai residence on Monday seeking his intervention in defusing the tension over the Maratha-OBC reservation issue.

Both Bhujbal and NCP clarified that the meeting was not a political one but was held with a view to brief the Maratha strongman about the status of the ongoing agitations by the Maratha and OBC communities and seek his guidance.

The NCP’s clarification came in the wake of the Jan Samman rally at Baramati on Sunday that was organised in a bid to increase the party’s presence across the state and appeal for the Mahayuti’s victory in the forthcoming Assembly elections.

Both, Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar have ruled out the possibility of a patch up between them.

Instead, they have decided to take on each other in the Assembly elections after their face- off in the recent Lok Sabha polls.