In the wake of BJP leader Gopinath Munde meeting with NCP leaders, Union agriculture minister and NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday clarified that his party has not offered anything to the disgruntled BJP leader.
Mr Pawar said that Mr Munde’s meetings with senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal and state NCP chi-ef Madhukar Picchad earlier this week were “normal” meetings. “We have not made any offer to Mr Mu-nde to joinus,” he added.
Incidentally, Mr Munde has been one of the prominent Pawar-bashers in state politics. He is also a close friend of Union rural development minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, who is considered Mr Pawar’s strongest opponents for over two decades.
Calling Mr Munde’s current face-off with the BJP leadership as an “internal affair” of that party, Mr Pawar said that the NCP was not concerned with it. “Such things happen in a political party. It doesnot call for instant speculation,” he said. In the last couple of weeks though, Mr Munde has been meeting political leaders from across the parties.