Ajit Pawar skips NCP meet in Mumbai

Mumbai: Senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar on Friday skipped a meeting of his party's Mumbai unit raising eyebrows in political circles as speculation about his next political move refuses to die down.

Speaking to reporters in Pune, Pawar played down the buzz saying that he was unable to attend the NCP convention as he had to remain present for some other programmes happening at the same time. He said nothing much should be read into this.

BJP said Maha Vikas Aghadi leaders were defaming him and questioning his credibility. The daylong meeting in Mumbai was addressed by party chief Sharad Pawar and other senior leaders like Praful Patel, Jitendra Awhad, Supriya Sule, Chhagan Bhujbal and state president Jayant Patil. Praful Patel said Mumbai and Thane region have 60 Assembly seats and NCP must do well in this belt if it has to emerge as the number one party in the state.