The stir has once again intensified in the politics of Maharashtra. The round of meetings has raised the political temperature of the state. There are speculations about Sharad Pawar led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP-SP) joining the ruling NDA. However, Sharad Pawar has already said that no such proposal has come to him.
There are only a few days left for the monsoon session of Parliament to begin, but political meetings in Maharashtra have heated up the market of discussions. Two leaders of Sharad Pawar faction met Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Thursday night. Jitendra Awhad was also present during the meeting between Shinde and NCP (SP) leader Jayant Patil.
closed door conversation
It is being told that there was a separate conversation between Shinde and Patil in a closed room for about half an hour. Two days before this meeting, Patil had also met State Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. At that time, Praful Patel and Sunil Tatkare were also present at Varsha Niwas, the official residence of the Chief Minister.
During the ongoing assembly session in Maharashtra, NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar also met Deputy Chief Minister Shinde. These meetings are being considered very important amid speculations about Sharad Pawar’s NCP joining NDA. There is also discussion that if Sharad Pawar led party joins NDA, then Jayant Patil may get a big responsibility.
No discussion on merger: Tatkare
However, amidst political speculations, Maharashtra State President of Nationalist Congress Party Sunil Tatkare claimed yesterday that at present there is no discussion of any kind regarding merger with the Sharad Pawar led faction. He also clarified that he had met CM Fadnavis two days ago regarding the development work of his Lok Sabha constituency.
Tatkare told that he had sought an appointment with CM Fadnavis a day before, but this meeting could not take place due to the BJP Core Committee meeting. He said, “My meeting with the CM was regarding the development work of my Lok Sabha constituency. Many issues including matters related to the finance department have to be discussed with the government.”
Discussion intensifies on meeting CM Fadnavis
Earlier, Tatkare, his senior colleague Praful Patel and NCP (SP) leader Jayant Patil had met Chief Minister Fadnavis late on Tuesday night, and after this meeting, speculations about a possible political restructuring in the state had intensified. However, after the matter came to light, leaders of both the factions of NCP said that they had met the Chief Minister at different times.
In his clarification, Tatkare said, “Jayant Patil is a senior leader, he has also been a former Finance Minister. He himself made it clear why he met the Chief Minister. There is no connection between his and my meeting.” He said that Prafulla was going to leave abroad the same night, so he met CM Fadnavis to discuss some issues.
Regarding the mutual merger of both the components of NCP, Tatkare said that earlier this year, talks regarding the merger of NCP and NCP (SP) had progressed a lot, but after the death of Ajit Pawar, these talks came to a standstill. On the possibility of merger, Tatkare made it clear that the leaders of Sharad Pawar group themselves had said that the talks on merger were over. No such new proposal has come before us. If any proposal comes, we will present our stand.
Sunil Tatkare also rejected speculations that the alleged support of Sharad Pawar’s faction in the delimitation issue is an indication of its closeness to the BJP-led NDA.
Leave a Reply