Pune:

Nationalist Congress Party (SP) president Sharad Pawar on Friday sought to downplay his closed-door meeting with estranged nephew and Maharashtra deputy CM Ajit Pawar in Pune, and asserted no issue related to their respective parties was discussed.

Speaking to reporters in Kolhapur city, the former Union agriculture minister insisted discussion at the meeting solely centred around a sugar industry project.

Asked about the possibility of rival NCP factions, headed by him and Ajit Pawar, coming together and if this issue was touched up in the meeting, the veteran politician asserted no party-related matter was discussed.

“In the meeting, Ajit Pawar, myself and people associated with the (sugar industry) project were present,” he said.

The two politicians were in Pune to attend the annual general body meeting of the Vasantdada Sugar Institute (VSI), which is headed by the senior Pawar.

Deputy CM Ajit Pawar is a member of the Pune-based VSI, a prominent research institute of the sugar industry, and attended its annual general body meeting for the first time since the July 2023 split in the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

During the AGM, Ajit Pawar sat at an arm’s length from his uncle, who heads the opposition NCP (SP). While the two were supposed to sit next to each other as per the initial arrangement, the deputy CM, who leads the ruling NCP, moved his nameplate one chair away, allowing Maharashtra Cooperation Minister Babasaheb Patil to sit between them.

Asked about the change in the seating arrangement, Sharad Pawar clarified Babasaheb Patil wanted to speak about certain things during the event and that is why he (state minister) sat next to him (senior Pawar).

A similar explanation was given by the junior Pawar.

“Babasaheb wanted to speak to Pawar saheb. I can speak to him (Sharad Pawar) anytime. Even if I sat one chair away, my voice is loud enough for someone further away to hear,” the deputy CM explained on Thursday when asked about the seat rearrangement.

At the VSI event, Ajit Pawar and NCP (SP) state unit president Jayant Patil, both political rivals, were also seen discussing something.

The NCP suffered a split in July 2023 when Ajit Pawar broke away from his uncle and joined the Shiv Sena-BJP government headed by then-Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Ajit Pawar may be Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister, but that hasn’t stopped his brother – Shrinivas Pawar – from exercising an elder sibling’s privilege, a stern rebuke, ahead of the Lok Sabha election.

A video of Mr Pawar’s scolding has been shared online. In it, Shrinivas Pawar distances himself from his brother and labels him “nalayak“, or “worthless”. He also accuses him of abandoning their uncle, Sharad Pawar, when the veteran politician needed him the most. “It is my personal opinion there can be no more worthless person than him (Ajit Pawar),” Mr Pawar told reporters.

Not insignificantly, the jabs came as he visited a temple in Maharashtra’s Baramati, which is the family stronghold; Sharad Pawar is a six-time MP from this seat, including four consecutive wins between 1996 and 2004. The seat has been held by his daughter, Supriya Sule, since.

In the 2024 election Ms Sule will likely face-off against Ajit Pawar’s wife Sunetra.

“I followed Ajit all the time… in all situations. I supported decisions and never questioned him. Many people know me here (Baramati)… I grew up here. When Ajit and I had a discussion, I told him, ‘you keep contesting Baramati as MLA and leave Lok Sabha under Pawar saheb’s leadership… as we are grateful to him for various things he did for us. I didn’t feel good about leaving him alone at 83.”

Pawar senior also said the 83-year-old Sharad Pawar had done a lot for the family.

“Some of our friends told me the future lies with Ajit instead of Sharad… but this thought was very painful. (I don’t) want to leave a person in their old age… a person who can benefit us. In my personal view, if someone thinks in such a way, he is an incompetent person,” he declared.

Shrinivas Pawar wasn’t done yet. He also accused Ajit of standing on the shoulder of their uncle for political gain, and then casting him aside, and then appeared to signal a break with his brother.

“This is like removing the owner of a house after getting ownership of the land. We all know whoever got positions in politics… it was because of Sharad Pawar. Like medicines (which have an expiry date) some relationships also expire. I am 60… I can’t live under pressure,” he said.

Shrinivas Pawar’s broadside at his brother was a stinging one, but it was unlikely that it was an unexpected one; last month the Deputy Chief Minister said, “My entire family will now be against me. They will campaign against me… but my workers are my family now.”

This particular Pawar versus Pawar squabble comes as Ajit Pawar’s faction faced a setback in the Supreme Court in a battle for the undivided NCP’s clock symbol. It, and the NCP name, was given to Ajit Pawar by the Election Commission, but the Sharad Pawar camp has challenged that award.

READ | “Mockery Of Voters”: Supreme Court In Pawar versus Pawar Hearing

The court has, for now, said the Ajit Pawar camp gets the symbol, but only with suitable disclaimers in all instances of use. The court also questioned the poll panel’s recognition of the Ajit Pawar camp as the “real” NCP, just as it recognised Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s Sena as the “real Shiv Sena”.

In July last year, Pawar junior forced a break within the Nationalist Congress Party founded and led by Sharad Pawar; Ajit Pawar led 40+ MLAs into the waiting arms of the Bharatiya Janata Party, strengthening the BJP-Shinde Shiv Sena faction’s control of the Maharashtra government.

READ | Some “Not Ready To Retire”: Nephew Ajit Targets Uncle Sharad Again

Since then, uncle and nephew have traded barbs. In January, Ajit Pawar attacked Sharad Pawar for not stepping down as the party boss, as he had promised. “Some do not retire…” he declared.

READ | “I Am Not Old”: NCP Boss Sharad Pawar Jabs Critics Over Age Dig

The Pawar family split also compounded the problems of the Maha Vikas Aghadi, a mismatched (on the face of it) alliance between the Congress, the NCP and the Shiv Sena group led by ex-Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, which went through its own civil war almost exactly one year earlier.

With input from ANI

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