Maharashtra: Ajit Pawar faction meets Sharad Pawar, seeks his 'blessings'

Two weeks after joining the NDA, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Sunday paid a surprise visit to Sharad Pawar at the YB Chavan Centre. He was accompanied by Praful Patel, Chhagan Bhujbal, Dilip Walse Patil, and other party leaders. "We all came here to seek the blessings of respected Sharad Pawar today. We got to know that Pawar saheb was here. So we took the opportunity and came here to take his blessings," Praful Patel said after meeting with Sharad Pawar.    

In a dramatic development on July 2, Ajit Pawar and eight NCP MLAs joined the NDA and took oath as ministers in the Maharashtra government. The surprise move led to a split in the NCP, with one faction led by Ajit Pawar and another by Sharad Pawar and his daughter Supriya Sule.

Prafaul Patel said the leaders requested Sharad Pawar that the NCP should stay united. "On this, Sharad Pawar did not give any reaction," Patel said after the hour-long meeting, a day before the commencement of the Monsoon Session of the Maharashtra Assembly.

This was the first meeting between Sharad Pawar and the rebel NCP MLAs after Ajit Pawar joined the Eknath Shinde-led government on July 2. All the nine MLAs who took the oath along with Praful Patel and Sunil Tatkare were present in the meeting. Supriya Sule, Jayant Patil, and Jitendra Awhad from Sharad Pawar faction were also present.

Recently, Ajit Pawar visited Silver Oak, the official residence of the NCP supremo, to meet the latter's wife Pratibha Pawar, after she underwent surgery at a hospital in Mumbai.