The Opposition Nationalist Congress Party (SP) on Thursday rubbished as “blatant lies” the rival NCP leader Praful Patel’s claim that in July last year, its president Sharad Pawar was “50 per cent” ready to go with the ruling BJP after his nephew Ajit Pawar engineered a split in the party and joined the MahaYuti government.

A day after Patel claimed in an interview with a news agency that after Ajit Pawar and other MLAs joined the Eknath Shinde-led government on July 2 2023   Sr Pawar had come around “50 per cent” to join the BJP,  NCP (SP) Chief Spokesperson Mahesh Tapase dubbed the rival NCP leader’s claim as a “deliberate attempt”  to “sow  seeds of confusion” in the minds of the voters ahead of the Lok Sabha 2024 elections.

In a video clip of an interview put out by news agency ANI, Patel had claimed:  

“On 2nd July 2023, when Ajit Pawar and our ministers took oath with Maharashtra govt. On 15th-16th July, we met Sharad Pawar and requested him to join us. Later, Ajit Pawar and Sharad Pawar met in Pune. He was also 50% ready...Sharad Pawar always hesitates at the last minute...This happened earlier as well in 1996. At that time, if Pawar sahib was not hesitant but had agreed to H D Deve Gowda’s suggestion, Sharad Pawar could have been the country’s Prime Minister in 1996”. “

Rejecting Patel’s claim, NCP (SP) chief spokesperson Tapase said: “Sharad Pawar has firmly rejected any notion of supporting the BJP, both in principle and action, not once but on multiple occasions in public and private. This unequivocal dismissal stands as a testament to Sharad Pawar Saheb’s unwavering commitment to his political convictions”.

Tapase said that Patel’s claim stemmed out of the rival NCP leaders’  “frustration” over Sr Pawar’s rejection of Ajit Pawar’s proposal to him to join hands with the BJP. “Ajit Pawar and other NCP leaders recognise their total dependence on Sharad Pawar Saheb to keep intact their relevance in Maharashtra politics”.

Tapase said that the recent closure of certain serious cases against Ajit Pawar had exposed the real motives of his group’s allegiance to the BJP as against oft-repeated claimed he others had joined the MahaYuti government for the “development interests” of the state.

Tapase charged that Ajit Pawar lacked the moral authority to control the NCP name and ‘Clock’ symbol which “he grabbed by back-stabbing Sharad Pawar Saheb”

“With the the Lok Sabha polls round the corner, the people of Maharashtra are observing these things very closely  the goings-on in our party. They realise that the NCP (SP) remains committed to public welfare under Sharad Pawar Saheb’s leadership . The voters will choose their choice wisely in the polls,” he said.

On his part, NCP’s national spokesperson Clyde Crasto said that Patel’s latest claim did not have any merit and was merely an attempt to boost his own image.

 “Patel’s statement is meaningless and of no value and there is no truth in it.  All these statements are only being made to increase their value as the BJP is treating the Ajit Pawar group as if they are nobody… If things Patel is claiming  were supposed to happen, they would’ve happened a long time ago,” Crasto said.