Pawar cancels his Baramati visit but NCP says all’s well

MUMBAI: The drama around Parth Pawar, the son of deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, continued on Sunday — five days after his granduncle and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar publicly rebuked him.

A day after a meeting between selected members of the Pawar family at Baramati, it is still unclear if the family drama has been resolved. On Sunday afternoon, Pawar reached his Modi Baug residence in Pune and was reportedly scheduled to go to Baramati. But he had a telephonic conversation with Ajit Pawar, his nephew, after which the NCP chief reportedly cancelled his Baramati visit.

“It is believed that both (Pawar and Ajit) had a positive conversation pertaining to Parth. We are hoping that things have sorted out,” said an NCP insider.

Pawar had ticked off Parth for deviating from the party line over the Ayodhya temple construction issue and for demanding a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the Sushant Singh Rajput death case. The former Union minister called his grandnephew “immature” and said he doesn’t care about what Parth says.

The senior leader’s statements gave rise to speculations over Parth wanting to quit the party and seeking a discussion over the issue with other family members before reaching a decision.

On Saturday evening, a meeting was held at the Baramati home of Shrinivas Pawar (Parth’s paternal uncle), where the young leader, along with his parents Ajit and Sunetra, as well as Shrinivas’s wife Sharmila were present. The details of the family meeting were kept under wraps as Ajit and Parth maintained complete silence on the issue. Both of them also stayed at Baramati till Sunday evening.

A day after Pawar’s public rebuke, Parth went to Silver Oak, the senior leader’s south Mumbai home, on August 13, where the young politician had a discussion with his aunt Supriya Sule (Sharad Pawar’s daughter) for over two hours, but could not meet his granduncle.

“The party chief can never accept a stand other than the party line only because Parth is his nephew’s son. Instead of making