Speculation of Sharad Pawar joining NDA: Party says reports are baseless, conspiracy to weaken the Opposition; Pawar-Shinde met a day ago

In Maharashtra politics, speculation has intensified whether the NCP (Sharad Chandra Pawar) will join the NDA or merge with the Congress. However, the party's state president Shashikant Shinde termed all these discussions as rumours. In fact, this speculation got a boost when Sharad Pawar met his party MLAs in Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's room after a meeting at Vidhan Bhavan in Mumbai on July 8 on the Maharashtra-Karnataka border dispute. However, Jayant Patil said that Sharad Pawar's meeting with the party MLAs in Shinde's room was a purely pragmatic decision. The MLAs wanted to meet Sharad Pawar before leaving the assembly building. But given Pawar's age and health, it was not appropriate to drive him for long distances. Since Deputy Chief Minister Shinde's room is very close to the exit door of the Assembly building, it was decided to hold the meeting there in terms of convenience. News of protests in the party Some media reports have claimed that there is a rift in the NCP (SP) party over the possibility of joining the NDA. According to reports, MLA Rohit Pawar is not in favour of any such decision and is said to be in favour of staying with the Maha Vikas Aghadi. The two allies of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) have come face to face over the issue of Pawar's meeting with his party MLAs at Shinde's office, the Shiv Sena (UBT) and the NCP (SP). Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut called it a "glorification of traitors", while the NCP (SP) accused Raut of adopting double standards, calling it a courtesy meeting with a leader holding a constitutional post. Raut said that he will talk to Sharad Pawar on the issue, though he is confident that Pawar will not join the NDA. Responding to Raut's remarks, NCP spokesperson Amol Matille said that Sharad Pawar, who has more than 50 years of political experience, does not need to be taught politics. According to him, it is natural to discuss issues like the state's boundary dispute, drought, reservation and development with the Deputy Chief Minister, who holds a constitutional post. When earlier Sharad Pawar's meetings with Uddhav Thackeray and Sanjay Raut were called "political maturity", why is Shinde's meeting with Shinde being objected to now? If a meeting between Sharad Pawar and Eknath Shinde makes the Maha Vikas Aghadi look unstable, it means that the foundation of the alliance is weak.