Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Sunday claimed NCP chief Sharad Pawar recently told Uddhav Thackeray that his party will never join hands with the BJP even if anyone takes an individual decision to do so.
Raut made the comments in his weekly column ‘Rokhthok’ in the party mouthpiece Saamana in the wake of speculations that senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar may break ranks to join hands with the ruling BJP in the state, amid a plea seeking disqualification of 16 MLAs of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena pending before the Supreme Court.
However, Ajit Pawar, who is the leader of opposition in the state Assembly, dubbed such speculations as baseless and denied meeting Union Home Minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah in Mumbai on Saturday night.
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Congress are constituents of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in the state.
Raut in the Marathi publication claimed, “(Sharad) Pawar told Uddhav Thackeray during their meeting (on Tuesday) that nobody wants to switch over. But, family is being targeted. If anyone takes a personal decision to leave, it is their individual issue. But we as a party will never go with the BJP.”
“There is tremendous anger among people of Maharashtra against the present state government. Any one joining the BJP will be committing political suicide. This is want Thackeray and Pawar felt,” the Rajya Sabha member wrote.
He further claimed that Sharad Pawar during the meeting with former chief minister Thackeray said he would like to tell those who want to switch over that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) “files” will go in a cupboard from the table, but will never be closed.
There are speculations in political circles about what would be the future move of Ajit Pawar and the senior NCP leader should himself clarify, Raut said. He said a sugar mill belonging to Ajit Pawar’s family was raided and seized by the ED. But, now the chargesheet doesn’t have any mention of Ajit Pawar or his family members.