He Heard Us, Didn't Respond: Rebel NCP Leaders Meet Sharad Pawar

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, and his loyalist MLAs on Sunday met Nationalist Congress Party patriarch Sharad Pawar at YB Chavan Centre, a day before the commencement of monsoon session of the Maharashtra Assembly.

Senior leader Praful Patel, Chhagan Bhujbal, Aditi Tatkare, Hasan Mashrif are among those who arrived at the centre to meet the senior Pawar.

Patel, a close aide of the NCP chief, whose betrayal reportedly hurt senior Pawar the most, said they wanted to seek the blessings of their idol and came without informing him.

"We all came here to seek the blessings of respected Sharad Pawar today. We requested Pawar sahib that NCP should stay united. On this, Sharad Pawar did not give any reaction," Praful Patel told reporters.

Interestingly, Jayant Patil and Jitendra Awhad, who are with Sharad Pawar group of the NCP, have also been called to attend the meeting.

As per news agency ANI, Patil said that he is going to Y B Chavhan centre after receiving a call from Pawar's daughter and Lok Sabha MP Supriya Sule.

"I got a call from Supriya Sule who asked me to reach YB Chavan centre soon. I do not know why Ajit Pawar and other MLAs have come here," said Jayant Patil.

On Friday, 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. Ajit Pawar is known to be close to his aunt Pratibha.

Pawar, who split the NCP and took oath as the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra, said his party decided to join the BJP-Shiv Sena government for the development of the country and praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership.

Pawar was sworn in as Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra on Sunday afternoon (July 2), after recent political developments in his party reportedly left him disgruntled, resulting in him joining the BJP-Shiv Sena (Shinde) government.

Pawar took eight MLAs with him from the NCP, which is currently in opposition in the state Legislative Assembly, to the Eknath Shinde-led government.