Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut has accused Ajit-Pawar-led NCP leader Praful Patel of orchestrating efforts to split Sharad Pawar-led NCP.

Raut on Friday stated that Ajit Pawar-led NCP currently has only one MP, namely Sunil Tatkare, but it needs at least six MPs to secure a ministerial post in the BJP-led Central government.

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“Sharad Pawar worked hard to ensure victories for NCP MPs, but this government is interested in breaking political parties and alliances. Ajit Pawar-led NCP’s Praful Patel wants to break Sharad Pawar’s NCP and secure a ministerial position in the BJP government at the centre. Since Sharad Pawar’s ideology is fundamentally opposed to the RSS and the BJP, I do not think Sharad Pawar will move away from the idea of a progressive Maharashtra. We will remain firmly aligned with Sharad Pawar,” Raut said.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that around the same time when Ajit Pawar met Sharad Pawar at his residence in Delhi on Thursday afternoon, another meeting took place between a senior leader of Sharad Pawar’s NCP and a central leader of the BJP, at the Delhi residence of industrialist Gautam Adani.

Sources also said that this meeting took place as the result of a previous meeting of MPs from Sharad Pawar’s NCP in Delhi on December 4, where they decided that they must gain access to political power.

According to sources, two groups have emerged within Sharad Pawar’s NCP. The first group is of the opinion that Sharad
Pawar’s NCP must join hands directly with the BJP to gain power, while the second group is of the opinion that they must join hands with Ajit Pawar’s NCP to become a part of the BJP government at the centre.

However, Bajrang Sonawane, an MP of the Sharad Pawar-led NCP, who was reported to have met Union Home Minister Amit Shah, as reported in The Statesman on Thursday, denied any move to switch sides. “We are all with Sharad Pawar and we have never met anybody,” Sonawane said.

Sharad Pawar-led NCP MP Amol Kale also denied meeting any BJP leader in Delhi. “There is absolutely no truth in such reports and we are all with Sharad Pawar. We will abide by whatever decision he takes,” Kale said.

Yet, sources insist that several MLAs and MPs of Sharad Pawar’s NCP seem to be in favour of joining the government and gaining access to power. If it happens, that would certainly be a major setback to the Congress-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) opposition alliance in Maharashtra, sources said.

Sources also said that Maharashtra has never witnessed such an unpredictable political situation before, where equations keep changing practically by the hour, at a time when the winter session of the Maharashtra assembly is scheduled to begin in Nagpur on Monday, December 16.