Mumbai: The rivalry between the two factions of the NCP has taken a new turn with leaders on either side of the political divide threatening to disclose information to which only they were privy so far.
On Sunday, Jitendra Avhad, former minister and confidante of Sharad Pawar, warned at an election meeting that if Supriya Sule, MP and daughter of Pawar Sr, opened her mouth then lot of information about Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar will become public.
Reacting to this, Umesh Patil, chief spokesperson of the NCP (Ajit Pawar), said on X that if Praful Patel opened his mouth, Sule will have to hide her face and quit the poll fray. Patel, an earlier aide of Pawar Sr, is now an NCP (Ajit Pawar) MP in the Rajya Sabha. He was known to be close to Sule. Patil further said if the watchman of Avhad’s farmhouse in Yeoor hills opened his mouth then the latter too will have to hide his face and scoot.
Meanwhile, Sharad Pawar pointed out at a rally in Baramati that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was making personal attacks on opposition leaders, including himself. But, he pointed out that at an event in 2016, the PM had said that he “entered politics by holding my fingers”.
However, today the PM was taking a different stand altogether. He said anyone who criticised Modi was jailed. He gave the examples of Jharkhand’s ex-CM Hemant Soren and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal in this regard.
Referring to Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’ recent remarks that the battle of Baramati is not Pawar vs Pawar but between Modi and Rahul Gandhi, the NCP (SP) chief asked whether the Congress leader was coming to Baramati to seek votes. Baramati is witnessing a battle royale between Supriya Sule and Sunetra Pawar, wife of deputy CM Ajit Pawar.
