Sharad Pawar tight-lipped on speculations over nephew’s BJP move

On Wednesday, his cousin and Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule too was cautious when asked about social activist Anjali Damania’s tweet in which the latter had claimed Ajit Pawar may forge an alliance with BJP along with 15 MLAs.

Mumbai: Amid speculations of senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar joining hands with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, NCP chief Sharad Pawar decided to remain tight-lipped, offering a terse “I don’t know” when asked about the issue. However, state NCP president Jayant Patil dismissed all the speculations and said they are “baseless”.

Meanwhile, some NCP leaders felt that Ajit Pawar could be posturing to ensure his candidature as the next chief minister if Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) comes to power in the 2024 state assembly elections. “He was miffed after Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray was portrayed as MVA leader after the first joint rally ‘Vajramooth’ was organized at Aurangabad,” said an NCP insider. (Hindustan Times)

“I do not see any fact in this,” Patil said when asked about the speculations that Ajit Pawar along with 15 MLAs are moving out of NCP. “He is busy working for the party,” he added.

The speculations of Ajit Pawar leaving the NCP were triggered following the Enforcement Directorate’s decision to drop his name from the chargesheet in the alleged Maharashtra State Cooperative (MSC) Bank scam.

On Wednesday, his cousin and Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule too was cautious when asked about social activist Anjali Damania’s tweet in which the latter had claimed Ajit Pawar may forge an alliance with BJP along with 15 MLAs. “How can I comment on her tweet? (Ajit) dada and I speak daily. I have not read her (Anjali Damania) tweet. I was busy in the constituency today so could not get the time to follow Twitter.”

On Thursday, Ajit Pawar was in Pune, holding meetings related to the elections in APMC (Agricultural Produce market Committee) markets, following the directives issued by the Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court.

Meanwhile, some NCP leaders felt that Ajit Pawar could be posturing to ensure his candidature as the next chief minister if Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) comes to power in the 2024 state assembly elections. “He was miffed after Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray was portrayed as MVA leader after the first joint rally ‘Vajramooth’ was organized at Aurangabad,” said an NCP insider.

“Ajit dada is of the view that the party having maximum strength should get the chance to lead the government in case the three-party coalition succeeds in securing the magic figure. In this way, he may be forcing the MVA allies to come to an agreement about the chief ministership well in advance,” he indicated.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on March 28 submitted a charge sheet in the alleged ₹25,000 crore MSC Bank scam case. The central investigating agency has dropped names of Ajit and his wife Sunetra Pawar in the chargesheet. It is being seen as a big relief for Ajit. This has also raised eyebrows in the political circles as the number of MVA leaders facing probe by central agencies is on the rise. However, this was dismissed by Ajit Pawar on Thursday. He said, “The information is baseless. No clean chit has been given and investigation against us is still on.”