NCP chief Sharad Pawar held a ‘secret’ meeting with his estranged nephew on Sunday, prompting buzz about yet another bump on the Maharashtra political landscape. The details of the nearly four hour long closed-door meeting remain elusive with Maharashtra NCP president Jayant Patil saying he was not aware of what had transpired. Pawar however reiterated his support for the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance on Sunday evening, insisting that he would ‘never align with BJP’.
As the national president of the NCP, I am making it clear that my party will not go with the BJP. Any association with the Bharatiya Janata Party does not fit in NCP's political policy," he said.Without naming names the senior Pawar said that “some of us have taken a different stand" while some well wished were “trying to see if there can be any change in our stand". That is why they are trying to have a cordial discussion with us. I want to tell you a fact that he is my nephew. What is wrong with meeting my nephew? If a senior person in a family desires to meet another family member, there should not be any issue with that," he added.The rift within the Nationalist Congress Party came into being last month as a group of leaders led by Ajit Pawar joined the Shiv Sena-BJP government. While both factions have reaffirmed their support for Sharad Pawar as NCP president they remain firmly divided on political allegiances.