Parth Pawar attends get-together at uncle’s residence in Baramati, maintains silence over next move

Upset over Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar’s public reprimand by calling him “immature”, his grandnephew Parth on Saturday visited Baramati for a “get-together” that lasted for several hours.

Till late evening, the Pawar scion was at uncle Shrinivas Patil’s Baramati residence where his mother Sunetra Pawar and aunt Sharmila were also present. Parth’s father and Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar were absent although he was in Pune earlier in the day to attend an Independence Day function.

Both Parth and his father Ajit have maintained studied silence even as several other NCP leaders downplayed the episode saying “it’s just a family matter”. Messages and calls to Parth Pawar did not evoke any response.

In the afternoon, a member of the family said, “Matter will end within two days” while Parth’s another paternal aunt Vijaya Patil earlier said that Parth is upset though he will forget everything in a few days.

“Parth is young and sensitive. However, he will forget everything. After all Sharad Pawar is his grandfather,” Patil said in Kolhapur, indicating that all is well within Pawar family. Vijaya Patil is Ajit’s elder sister while Shrinivas is younger brother.

Parth is reportedly unhappy with the way NCP chief publicly ticked him off over his demand for CBI probe into Sushant Singh Rajput suicide case, a clear deviation from the party line. Rejecting Parth’s demand, senior Pawar had said his grandnephew is “immature” and his views are “not worth a penny”.

After rebuke from senior Pawar, Parth has been meeting family members for the past three days.

Late on Friday evening, Parth met Ajit Pawar’s cousin Abhijit Pawar at latter’s bungalow in Baner while on Thursday, he visited Silver Oak, Sharad Pawar’s residence in south Mumbai. At Silver Oak, Parth could not meet senior Pawar though he had over two-hour long discussion with paternal aunt Supriya Sule.

Reacting over Parth being upset, senior party leader Praful said the entire issue is not as important as being “portrayed” by the media. “Since Sharad Pawar has already spoken, the matter is over,” said Patel.

Another NCP leader and Maharashtra health minister Rajesh Tope said, “Parth is my friend and I am confident he will not take any other step. This is not at all a big issue.”

This is not the first time that there have been indications of rift within the Pawar family. Earlier, when NCP chief was reluctant to offer a party ticket to Parth to contest the Lok Sabha polls, the Pawar scion forced his grandfather to reverse decision. After the assembly polls last year, Ajit Pawar had defied party line and joined hands with BJP to become deputy chief minister in Devendra Fadnavis government that lasted for three days.