Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Monday denied that there was any rift between him and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde amidst speculation that their relations had soured as he had not paid a visit to ‘Varsha’, the CM’s official bungalow in Mumbai, during the recent Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations.
I could not make it to the chief minister’s official bungalow during Ganesh aarti as I was busy visiting Ganesh mandals in Pimpri-Chinchwad and Pune city… I did not do it deliberately,” Pawar said while interacting with reporters in Baramati where he had come to launch a cleanliness drive on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti. “I must have visited 60 Ganesh mandals in Pimpri-Chinchwad and 15 in Pune city. I also visited Lalbaugcha (Raja) Ganpati and Siddhivinayak in Mumbai And therefore I could not go there (CM’s bungalow)…Do not blow up the news unnecessarily,” he added. The NCP underwent a vertical split on July 2 this year after Ajit Pawar along with eight of his MLAs joined the Eknath Shinde government in Maharashtra. Both factions of the party have staked claim over the name and symbol of the party and have petitioned at ECI in this regard. However, there are speculation that Ajit Pawar might be willing to join Sharad Pawar's party again. With the Ajit Pawar group still using Sharad Pawar’s picture on some of its billboards, it is clear that the faction is not confident of winning elections without the support of Sharad Pawar.