SUPRIYA SULE DENIES MEETING PM MODI ON CABINET BERTH

Nationalist Congress Party MP Supriya Sule has rubbished Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut’s claims that Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered her a cabinet berth at a meeting that she and her father, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, had with him.

“There has been no such meeting where I met Mr Modi with Mr Pawar,” Sule said.

In his column in Sena mouthpiece Saamana on Sunday, Raut quoted Pawar as telling him about meeting Modi and discussing the offer. Raut claimed Sule, who was also present, said she would be the last person to go with the BJP.

Raut’s claims have once again triggered speculations of the NCP shifting allegiance from the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance to the BJP-led NDA.

Some sources in the NCP claimed they had got an offer from the BJP but the leadership was not keen on joining the NDA fold.

“The party chief was not keen on joining NDA. Moreover, Sule was against it. She was the first person who came out to refute the rumours of NCP joining NDA when the speculation was rife last month,” said a senior party leader.

On August 28, Sule had told reporters in Pandharpur that the NCP has no plans to join the NDA and only the Congress was ready to throw in its lot with the NDA. Sources said Sule’s quote used in Raut’s article was enough to clear the speculation.

NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said there was no basis for the speculations about the NCP joining the NDA.

“Senior leaders Supriya Sule and Praful Patel had already denied any such reports. Raut’s article itself speaks about what we have been saying on such rumours,” Malik told HT.

Pawar is known for his cordial relations with the BJP top brass.

The NCP had also extended unsolicited support to the BJP to stabilise its government in Maharashtra after the party failed to get a majority in the assembly elections in 2014.

RAUT’S CLAIMS HAVE ONCE AGAIN TRIGGERED SPECULATIONS OF THE NCP SHIFTING ALLEGIANCE FROM THE CONGRESSLED UNITED PROGRESSIVE ALLIANCE TO THE BJPLED NDA.