Mumbai, Nov 2 The NCP on Monday brushed aside reports of internal friction over a high-profile meeting between Union Home Minister Amit Shah and a delegation of senior party leaders in New Delhi, placing trust in the leadership of Deputy CM Sunetra Pawar and ruling out a merger with NCP (SP).
The party’s defence came even as the absence of Sunetra Pawar and her sons Parth and Jay during the talks raised eyebrows in political circles.
A senior party leader told PTI that a group of senior leaders met Shah on Sunday to discuss how to improve coordination between the NCP and other constituents of the Mahayuti alliance.
“We will work collectively under the leadership of (Deputy CM and NCP chief) Sunetra Pawar. Merger with the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) has been ruled out,” the leader said, dismissing political chatter over the absence of Sunetra Pawar and her sons at the meeting with Shah.
He said the NCP is keen to get back the finance portfolio and will decide who will handle the ministry.
Speaking to reporters after a core committee meeting held in Mumbai on Monday night, Nationalist Congress Party state president Sunil Tatkare said the issue of the finance portfolio was raised during the meeting with Shah.
Tatkare also said there was no reason for dissatisfaction in the party and asserted that leaders were working through dialogue and collective leadership.
“We work through dialogue and communication with one another (party leaders), and we will continue to make efforts in that direction in the coming days,” he said amid speculation on the alleged internal differences in the party.
He said NCP workers regularly discuss the party organisation and its various programmes.
The senior NCP leader said the party has already expressed its position on the issue of merger with the Sharad Pawar faction of the NCP.
Tatkare said a meeting of all NCP MLAs would be held on Tuesday at the party office.
Queried on what transpired at the core committee meeting, Tatkare said the party leaders discussed strengthening the party organisation, the drought situation in Maharashtra, and responsibilities of legislators.
He said no decision has been taken so far regarding the Finance portfolio, which was held by late Ajit Pawar and subsequently retained by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
“A decision will certainly be taken at the appropriate time,” Tatkare said, adding that the issue was raised in the meeting with Amit Shah.
He said the party discussed the health of senior leader Sharad Pawar at the core committee meeting and wished him a speedy recovery.
“Pawar Saheb has made a very valuable contribution to Maharashtra and the country over the past six decades,” he said.
He said the meetings of NCP leaders had been postponed earlier because of election-related engagements and the involvement of the government machinery in election arrangements.
The party had discussed resuming regular meetings before Diwali, but the plan could not be implemented last week, he said.
“The tradition of interacting with MLAs existed under the leadership of Ajit Pawar and even before him,” Tatkare said, adding that it had been continued under the present leadership and would remain in place.
Asked about reports of dissatisfaction following recent organisational appointments, including Mumbai unit president and meeting with Shah, Tatkare said the party core committee discussed organisational matters and would continue working through dialogue and communication.
Earlier, NCP national chief spokesperson Umesh Patil sought to dismiss reports claiming that party president Sunetra Pawar, along with Rajya Sabha MP Parth Pawar, were sidelined during the Delhi parleys, and termed such claims “incorrect, baseless and misleading”.
NCP leaders who met Shah in Delhi late on Sunday returned to the city and held a series of closed-door deliberations at state Minister Chhagan Bhujbal’s residence here.
Senior leader Dilip Walse Patil, who was part of the delegation to meet Shah, told PTI that all leaders who met the Union minister on Sunday have returned to the city.
The meeting with Shah comes in the backdrop of the setback the party faced in the recent Maharashtra legislative council elections, where it lost the Aurangabad Graduates seat it held for 18 years.
Party leaders Praful Patel, Sunil Tatkare, Dilip Walse Patil, Hassan Mushrif, Chhagan Bhujbal and Dhananjay Munde met Shah in Delhi.
“Sunetra Pawar and Parth Pawar had earlier met Shah and discussed various issues facing the party following the death of Ajit Pawar. During that meeting, she had informed Shah that a delegation of senior party leaders would meet him and requested him to give them time,” Patil said.
The senior leaders were well-versed in important issues from Ajit Pawar’s tenure, matters concerning the state’s interests and various party-related issues, he said, adding the meeting was held on Sunday in this context.
“Attempts are being made to give an unnecessary political twist to the meeting and create a narrative of internal differences and lack of coordination within the party. The NCP is an important constituent of the Mahayuti alliance and remains united under the leadership of Sunetra Pawar,” he said.
The media must verify facts before reporting on the NCP, Patil asserted.
“Do not politicise formal meetings between leaders of alliance partners. Speculation should not be portrayed as fact,” the NCP leader added.
(PTI News)
