Ajit Pawar ‘luring’ Sharad with Central post? 'He is not that big,' says Sanjay Raut
Sharad Pawar earlier said his meeting with Ajit Pawar was not a secret one. “Many well-wishers trying to persuade me,” Sharad Pawar said.
Days after Ajit Pawar met uncle Sharad Pawar at an industrialist's house in Pune triggering political speculations over a new alignment in Maharashtra politics, a Congress leader, an ex-chief minister of the state, claimed Ajit Pawar came to his uncle with two specific offers. One, Sharad Pawar would be accommodated in the Union Cabinet as agriculture minister, a post senior Pawar held during the UPA, or a post as the chairperson of Niti Aayog. Two, Sharad Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule will be accommodated at the Centre, and Jayant Patil in the state. Reacting to this, Uddhav Balasaheb Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Wednesday said Ajit Pawar is not that a big leader that he can make an offer to Sharad Pawar.
"Pawar Sahab made Ajit Pawar. Ajit Pawar didn't make Sharad Pawar. Sharad Pawar's stature is high," Sanjay Raut said.
Supriya Sule reacted to the reports and said, "No one has offered me anything nor had a conversation with me...You should ask them (Maharashtra Congress leaders) why they are giving such statements. I have no idea. I am personally in touch with the senior Congress leaders like Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Gaurav Gogoi but I am not in touch with their leaders in Maharashtra."
Sharad Pawar-Ajit Pawar: Congress asks why uncle-nephew meeting secretly
While Sharad Pawar clarified that the meeting was not a secret one and as the seniormost of the family, he can meet his family members, the Congress in Maharashtra asked why family members needed to meet somewhere else. Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole said the Congress does not approve of such secret meetings.
Sharad Pawar's daughter and NCP working president Supriya Sule asserted that there was no grain of truth in the speculations that Sharad Pawar might support the BJP government. Sharad Pawar will remain in the Maha Vikas Aghadi, Supriya Sule said on Tuesday.
Sharad Pawar's grand nephew Rohit Pawar downplayed the meeting and said there is no quarrel in the family and so there is nothing unusual in meeting family members. "We can meet because we don't have any quarrel in our family. But when ideology, thoughts come to the fore, there will be conflict. Ajit Pawar has taken a separate decision but there is no difference in the Pawar family. Since we are relatives, we will meet," Rohit Pawar said.
What Ajit Pawar said on 'secret' meeting
Ajit Pawar said the meeting with his uncle at industrialist Atul Chordia's place was apolitical. “There is no reason to take the Pune meeting so seriously. Respected Pawar saheb has already clarified that he is the fatherly figure in the Pawar family. I am his nephew, and a family meeting has been blown out of proportion..." Ajit Pawar said adding that the industrialist invited both of them for lunch. "His father was Pawar saheb’s classmate. Chordia had invited Pawar saheb for lunch and Jayant (Patil) was with him. If a person having relations for two generations invited us for lunch, then there is no reason to take it otherwise," Ajit Pawar said.
