No need to read too much into meeting with Sharad Pawar: Ajit Pawar

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Tuesday said nothing much happened during his meeting with his uncle and NCP chief Sharad Pawar in Pune last week. Speaking to reporters in Kolhapur, he said there was no need to think too much about the meeting. «Pawar Saheb (Sharad Pawar) has already clarified.

The media is giving different kinds of publicity to a meeting that took place between family members, leading to confusion. There is no reason to think that anything unusual transpired at the meeting,» he said. On Saturday, political circles were abuzz after a «secret» meeting took place between Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar at a businessman's residence in Pune.

Senior Nationalist Congress Party leader Jayant Patil was also present. Asked about him leaving the premises 'hiding' in a car, Ajit Pawar said he was not there in the car. «I did not leave surreptitiously.

I am someone who roams around openly. There was no reason for me to hide....I was not there in that car,» he said. Visuals aired by regional news channels showed Sharad Pawar arriving at the residence of businessman Atul Chordiya in the Koregaon Park area around 1 pm on August 12 and leaving around 5 pm.

Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar was purportedly seen leaving the premises in a car at 6:45 pm. Ajit Pawar, who split the NCP in July this year and joined the Shiv Sena-BJP government in the state, said he accepted that he met Pawar senior. The Pawar family had an association with businessman Atul Chordiya for two generations, he said.

«Chordiya had invited Pawar Saheb for lunch. He was supposed to go there after a program at the Vasantdada Sugar Institute and as Jayant Patil was with him, he also went along. I reached there after completing the Chandni