Is Parth Pawar still unhappy?
MUMBAI : Nationalist Congress party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar’s grandnephew and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar’s son Parth is apparently sulking after senior Pawar publicly ticked him off for deviating from party line on the issues such as actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s suicide case probe and Ayodhya temple construction.
Pawar had called him “immature” and had said he doesn’t give a damn about what the latter says, over demand for Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into Rajput case. A day after Pawar’s public rebuke, Parth went to Silver Oak, Pawar’s residence in south Mumbai, where he had over two-hour discussion with his aunt Supriya Sule, also daughter of the NCP chief, but could not meet the NCP chief, said insiders. He is reportedly upset with public rebuke by his grandfather (Sharad Pawar). There are speculations that he may quit the party. Both Ajit and Parth have maintained complete silence on the issue. This also suggests that Pawar continues to be miffed with his grand-nephew over his out of turn statements on policy matters.
On Friday, Parth reached Pune and is likely to meet his paternal uncle Shrinivas Pawar and aunt Vijaya Patil, it is said. Ajit is also in Pune where he held a review meeting on the pandemic on Friday.
Ajit is the son of Pawar’s elder brother Anandrao Pawar and was brought into politics by his uncle (Sharad Pawar). “Pawar saheb has the authority as he (Parth) is a party worker. We don’t give political advice, for that we have a national leader (Sharad Pawar) in the family and we are proud of him. We also have Ajit dada (Ajit Pawar) who is his (Parth) father. He (Parth) may have got hurt and may come to discuss, but we will speak only on personal issues,” Vijaya told a Marathi news channel on Friday.
There was a rift in the family in the past too over Parth contesting the general elections. Eventually, Parth lost the polls to the sitting Shiv Sena MP Shrirang Barne.
Soon after the Lok Sabha elections, Pawar was seen promoting his other grand-nephew, Rohit, who is the son of his other nephew, Rajendra. With Pawar’s encouragement, Rohit successfully contested the Assembly elections from Karjat-jamkhed constituency in Ahmednagar district.
On Friday, Rohit said it was a family matter. “It is a family matter and saheb (Sharad Pawar) has already spoken on this,” he said in Ahmednagar. He added that the BJP is doing politics over giving justice to the late actor.
NCP MP and senior leader Sunil Tatkare said: “No one is upset. Ajit dada is in Pune and holding meetings. Everyone is busy working.” He met the NCP chief with social justice minister Dhananjay Munde at YB Chavan Centre on Friday noon.