Nationalist Congress Party MLC Amol Mitkari on Saturday said there was “some secret about the future” in the meeting that had taken place between Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and NCP chief Sharad Pawar in Mumbai on Friday. “CM Eknath Shinde on Friday met our party chief in Breach Candy Hospital. And then the CM himself said that our party chief will be attending the Shirdi convention and then return to the hospital… there is some secret about the future in this meeting between the two leaders,” Mitkari told reporters in Shirdi.
The party was holding a ‘study camp’ in Shirdi on Saturday.
Mitkari said, “There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that the meeting will spring a surprise.”
However, NCP state chief Jayant Patil downplayed the meeting, saying, “I am sure the CM went to the hospital to inquire about the health of Pawar… There is no need to give a political colour to the meeting between them.”
Industries Minister Uday Samant said, “I don’t want to comment on what some people are saying about the meeting between the two leaders. I want to compliment the chief minister for upholding the political culture of Maharashtra by calling upon an ailing leader. Those who are making dirty allegations against us should learn a lesson from it…”
Meanwhile, BJP ridiculed the statement made by Jayant Patil earlier, saying the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government will collapse after the party’s Shirdi convention. “It is a political statement meant to keep their flock together. The Shinde-Fadnavis government has 164 MLAs and there is no threat to the government whatsoever…”.
