Meeting with Ajit not secret: Pawar

Mumbai: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Wednesday clarified that his meeting with Maharashtra’s deputy CM and his nephew Ajit, who split the party to join the Sena-BJP government in Maharashtra, was not “secret”. “He had come to meet me as a senior member of the Pawar family. All of you saw that after the meeting, I came out and even accepted flowers from well-wishers.

We also discuss family issues in such meetings, which I can’t reveal every time,” he said.

“There were no political discussions happened there. I was not offered a Cabinet berth. All these reports are baseless," Pawar said. He reiterated his stand that he would not join hands with the BJP and would stay with the Opposition bloc, Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA).

The NCP supremo reiterated that his party will not go with the BJP even though some "well-wishers" were trying to persuade him. "Any association with the BJP does not fit in NCP's political policy," he said earlier this week.

While Ajit is trying his best to convince Pawar and settle the dust, the NCP chief is adamant on not joining the BJP camp.