Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Tuesday alleged that leaders of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) are taking directions from the BJP and will eventually join the saffron fold.
Talking to the reporters, the Rajya Sabha MP said the NCP no longer belongs to Ajit Pawar, while stressing that the original NCP belongs to founder Sharad Pawar.
Raut's comments come in the backdrop of a late-night meeting on Sunday in Delhi, where senior leaders, including Praful Patel, Sunil Tatkare, Dilip Walse Patil, Hassan Mushrif, Chhagan Bhujbal, and Dhananjay Munde, met Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
The meeting fuelled speculation of internal friction, as it was held in the absence of NCP chief and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar and her sons Parth and Jay.
However, the NCP on Monday dismissed reports of any rift, terming the meeting as routine. The NCP has been orphaned after Ajit Pawar died in a plane crash in January this year, Raut remarked.
The NCP, founded by Sharad Pawar in 1999, was vertically split after Ajit Pawar joined the Eknath Shinde-led Mahayuti government in July 2023. He was appointed the deputy CM at that time. Pawar’s stint in the same post continued after Devendra Fadnavis came to the helm as CM following the November 2024 assembly polls.
(With inputs from PTI)