Sharad Pawar's nephew Ajit Pawar joined the Maharashtra government yesterday
A day after his nephew Ajit Pawar led a mutiny within the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and joined the Eknath Shinde-led government with eight other party leaders, NCP chief and veteran politician Sharad Pawar said "there is no problem in the family".
"There's no problem in the family. We don't discuss politics in the family. Everyone takes their own decision," he told NDTV in an exclusive interview.
Mr Pawar left for Satara this morning, where he would visit the memorial of freedom fighter and former Maharashtra Chief Minister YB Chavan. "I didn't approach anybody since yesterday. I haven't contacted anybody. I am just leaving now for Satara," he said.
Jayant Patil, MLA and Maharashtra chief of NCP, had yesterday said Mr Pawar will pay his respects to the freedom fighter and his mentor, and start working for the future of Maharashtra.
On the legal battles facing the party in the aftermath of Ajit Pawar's rebellion, Mr Pawar said, "About legal issues, I don't know, our state president Jayant Patil is consulting. This info will be available only with him at this point of time," he said.
The rebellion within the NCP has come at a time when the veteran politician is among the heavyweight leaders working to stitch a united Opposition front to take on the BJP in the 2024 general election.
Mr Pawar indicated that the mutiny in his party will not alter the joint Opposition front plans.
"The opposition meeting will happen in Bengaluru. Yesterday, those who contacted me include (Trinamool chief) Mamata Banerjee, (Bihar Chief Minister) Nitish Kumar, (AAP leader) Arvind Kejriwal, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, (DMK president) and MK Stalin. "We have discussed that we will meet, sometime between July 16-18. The meeting will decide the future course of action," he said.
In a shocking move, Ajit Pawar and eight other NCP leaders took oath in a hurriedly arranged ceremony at Maharashtra Raj Bhavan yesterday. They were accompanied by veteran party leaders such as Chhagan Bhujbal and Praful Patel, long-time aides of Sharad Pawar.
In a letter to Maharashtra Governor Ramesh Bais, Ajit Pawar has claimed that over 40 NCP MLAs and six members of Legislative Council back him, news agency PTI reported quoting sources.
Addressing the media later, Mr Pawar said disciplinary action would be taken against those part of the rebellion.
The 82-year-old leader has called a meeting of the party on Wednesday. NCP has also moved the Election Commission of India, stressing that Mr Pawar continues to be the party chief and that there is no change in leadership.