'We met our 'God' to...': Ajit Pawar, Praful Patel and others pay surprise visit to Sharad Pawar

Newly appointed Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra Ajit Pawar visited his uncle Sharad Pawar, the head of the NCP, at the YB Chavan Centre on Sunday, a day before the beginning of the state assembly's monsoon session. Chhagan Bhujbal, Praful Patel, Aditi Tatkare, Hasan Mashrif, and other members of the Ajit Pawar camp arrived at the centre to meet NCP leader.

After the meeting, Praful Patel remarked, "Today we met our God and our leader Sharad Pawar to take his blessings". "We didn't make an appointment before coming here. We all came here to receive Sharad Pawar's blessings since we knew he had arrived for a meeting," he added,

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Deputy CM Pawar, along with 31 NCP MLAs revolted against his uncle Sharad Pawar and became part of the BJP government in the state. Patel, who was a long-time confidante of the NCP chief, said he also requested Sharad Pawar that all of them respect him a lot but NCP should be together.  He also urged Sharad Pawar to give this some serious thought and to consider helping them in the future.

"Sharad Pawar didn't reply to us, he just kept on listening to what we were saying and after meeting him, we are going back," he said.

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This comes after the NCP sent a notice to the dissident MLAs and demanded explanations from them over their absence from the meeting held by Sharad Pawar on July 5. Instead, these MLAs were present at the ceremony led by Ajit Pawar when they took their oaths as cabinet members.

The NCP, founded by Sharad Pawar in 1999, witnessed a split on Sunday with Ajit Pawar, claiming the support of over 40 MLAs and joining the Shiv Sena-BJP coalition government in Maharashtra. In a sudden cabinet enlargement on Sunday, nine NCP MLAs, including Ajit Pawar, were sworn in as ministers in the Maharashtra government. Ajit Pawar claimed to be the genuine NCP, backed by senior party figures Praful Patel, Chhagan Bhujbal, and Dilip Walse Patil.

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