Gave role to Praful Patel at Supriya Sule's expense: Sharad Pawar

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Sharad Pawar on Saturday slammed his long-term colleague and rebel NCP leader Praful Patel for accusing him of favouritism, and said Patel got more opportunities in the party at the cost of his daughter Supriya Sule. Pawar also blamed himself for not being able to anticipate the extent of the split in the party.

Responding to Patel's claim in a newspaper interview that Pawar was favouring his daughter over Ajit Pawar, the NCP founder said Supriya was elected thrice to the Lok Sabha, but the party never gave her a ministerial berth when UPA was in power. «Instead, we made Praful Patel a minister for ten years… In fact, even after he lost the Lok Sabha polls, we sent him to Rajya Sabha,» he told reporters in Nashik before addressing a rally.

He also responded to Patel's claim that NCP's organisational structure had lacunae and was not as per its constitution. «They (Ajit Pawar camp) have questioned my election as the party president, but the proposal was mooted by Patel himself,» he claimed.