NCP Leader Met PM Modi, Discussed Against Opposition

The meeting was held for 20 minutes in PMO.

New Delhi: After attending a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar raised the central probe agencies' action against leaders of Maharashtra's ruling coalition and other politicians bitterly opposed to the BJP.

According to the sources, the meeting was held for about 20 minutes at PM Modi's office in parliament. Just hours after the Enforcement Directorate seized the properties of Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut's wife Varsha Raut and a relative of Aam Aadmi Party leader and Delhi minister Satyendra Jain in an alleged money laundering case.

After the meeting, NCP leader Sharad Pawar spoke to the reporters and shared details of his meeting with PM Modi, "On what basis was action taken against Sanjay Raut? This is injustice. What's the provocation for action against Raut - just because he is making some statements?"

This morning, the CBI took custody of former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh, a senior leader of Sharad Pawar's party.

He also dismissed talk of any turmoil within the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress coalition that he helped stitch up in 2019 after the Shiv Sena broke up with its long-term ally BJP. "We will fight together in the next elections...the MVA (Maha Vikas Aghadi). There is stability, I am answering these questions for the last two-and-a-half years," Mr Pawar said.

Significantly, the PM's meeting with one of the senior opposition politicians in the country also took place months before the Presidential election.

Moreover, NCP Leader stressed that he was not ready to lead the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) coalition that, led by Congress, ruled the country for 10 years. Sonia Gandhi is the chairperson of the UPA.

"I am not ready to be UPA chairperson and we don't want to disturb the present set-up," Mr Pawar said.

Deflecting questions about the possibility of his "return to the Congress" to revive the party, the NCP leader also said dissidents in the Congress were "asking for more strength".

Although he is one of the prime movers in the opposition, Mr Pawar has vehemently rejected the idea of leading the UPA. "I am not interested," he had said recently when asked whether he would consider such a position if only to rally the opposition for a united fight against the BJP in the 2024 national election.

However, Mr Pawar has been pivotal in crafting alliances and marshalling opposition forces and was seen to be actively prepping strategy for a united fight to take on the BJP.