Rohit Pawar met Sharad Pawar and denied any NCP faction merger discussions. He called the speculation narrative-building while challenging the crash probe and Gokul decision.Speculation about a merger intensified last week after several leaders of the Sunetra Pawar-led NCP, including Praful Patel and Parth Pawar, met Sharad Pawar, who was recently admitted to hospital with a chest infection.
NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar on Monday dismissed speculation about a merger of the two Nationalist Congress Party factions, saying no such discussions were taking place within his party, PTI reported.He alleged that the reports were intended to create a political narrative. Pawar also raised questions about the investigation into the aircraft crash that killed former Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and criticised a state cabinet decision concerning the Gokul dairy cooperative.Speaking to reporters after meeting his granduncle and party president Sharad Pawar at his Mumbai residence, Rohit Pawar said neither the veteran leader nor party working president Supriya Sule had discussed a merger or an alliance with the BJP.āIf merger talks were underway, Supriya tai or Pawar Saheb would have spoken to me.
There has been no discussion on merger in our party. The discussion is only in Ajit Dada's party and in the media,ā PTI quoted him as saying.
Speculation about a merger intensified last week after several leaders of the Sunetra Pawar-led NCP, including Praful Patel and Parth Pawar, met Sharad Pawar, who was recently admitted to hospital with a chest infection. A widely circulated video showed Sharad Pawar and Patel discussing a possible meeting after November 10.Amid the speculation, NCP state president Sunil Tatkare claimed that the two factions would have merged in February this year had Ajit Pawar been alive.
Rohit Pawar, the MLA from Karjat Jamkhed, alleged that the speculation was aimed at building a particular political narrative. He said he remained among the most vocal critics of the BJP-led Maharashtra government.He also questioned the investigation into the aircraft crash that killed Ajit Pawar, alleging that it was not moving in the right direction and that those in power were not addressing doubts surrounding the incident.
According to PTI, he said he would make a detailed presentation in Mumbai on November 14 or 15 about the crash and the questions related to it.On the Gokul dairy controversy, Rohit Pawar criticised the state cabinet's decision to grant voting rights to four government-nominated directors on the milk cooperative's board. He called the move unconstitutional and held Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis responsible.Rohit Pawar maintained that no merger talks were underway in the NCP (SP), while also seeking answers over the aircraft crash investigation and opposing the Maharashtra cabinet's decision on voting rights at the Gokul dairy cooperative.- Ends