Sharad Pawar meets Ajit Pawar’s sons in Baramati

Sharad Pawar held a closed-door meeting with Parth Pawar and Jay Pawar in Baramati on Wednesday. Sources said discussions may have focused on a possible merger of NCP factions and upcoming Zila Parishad elections

Pune: A closed-door meeting between NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar and the sons of late Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, Parth Pawar and Jay Pawar, was held in Baramati on Wednesday, sources said.

The meeting was held on the premises of Vidya Pratishthan, an educational institute in the Pawar family’s hometown of Baramati. It lasted about one and a half hours, they said.

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There was no immediate official word on the agenda of the meeting. The discussions might have centred on the possible merger of the two NCP factions and the upcoming Zila Parishad elections, the sources said.

Deputy CM Ajit Pawar died in a plane crash at Baramati in Pune district on January 28. Three days later, his wife Sunetra Pawar took oath as deputy CM.

After Ajit Pawar’s death, Sharad Pawar and other leaders of his party claimed that merger talks were at an advanced stage and the late deputy CM had finalised February 12 as the date to announce the reunification of the NCP factions.

A seemingly counterclaim emerged through Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who said that if the merger talks were really in progress, then Ajit Pawar would have shared the details with him.