Few may quit NCP under ressure, but not Ajit: Raut after meeting Pawar

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut on Monday said that he believes Ajit Pawar might not leave NCP and recalled Sharad Pawar telling him last week that some leaders might bid goodbye to his party under pressure.

"At the meeting with Thackeray, Pawar had certainly spoken of pressure and threats being applied by Central agencies like Enforcement Directorate (ED), the Central Bureau of Investigation [CBI] and the police machinery to split the NCP in the manner of the Shiv Sena.

Pawar had said that while some people may leave the party owing to this pressure, but that would be their individual decision. The NCP president has clearly said that the NCP as a party will never leave the MVA alliance. I had written the same in the Saamana as well," The Hindu quoted him as saying.

Responding to the rumours of Ajit Pawar joining hands with BJP, the Uddhav camp spokesperson highlighted that he was present at the meeting in Nagpur. "We had a good conversation. We returned [to Mumbai] in the same flight. I do not at all think he will leave the NCP and venture off in another direction," Raut said.

Of late, there were speculations that Ajit Pawar, who had earlier rebelled against the NCP and joined hands with the BJP to become Deputy Chief Minister, had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

He also claimed that the relationship between Shiv Sena (UBT) and the NCP is "excellent". He reminded the media that Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar together met the heat-stroke affected patients on Sunday.

It has to be noted that Raut, in his weekly column 'Rokthok', recently made similar claims on Pawar claiming that some leaders were under pressure to quit the NCP.

"(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," Raut wrote.

He also made mention about a sugar mill belonging to Ajit Pawar's family being raided and seized by the ED. But, now the chargesheet doesn't have any mention of Ajit Pawar or his family members. "What happened to the allegations of money laundering in the purchase of the sugar mill. Were the raids and allegations just for political pressure?" he asked.