Ajit Pawar said NCP workers were “getting confused” because of all the buzz

Mumbai:

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar today denied that he was planning to move to the BJP with his supporters, accusing the media of “spreading rumours without any reason”.

“There is no truth to any rumour. I am with the NCP and I will stay with the NCP,” Ajit Pawar said, slamming talk of a rift in the NCP and Maharashtra’s opposition alliance.

“I didn’t take signatures of 40 MLAs. The MLAs that came to meet me today, this is a routine process. Don’t come up with any other meaning,” he said.

The former Deputy Chief Minister said NCP workers were “getting confused” because of all the buzz. “I want to tell them that don’t worry, NCP has been formed under the leadership of Sharad Pawar, and there have been times when we have been in power or in opposition,” he said.

He said such rumours were being spread intentionally and attention was being diverted from key issues such as unemployment and farmers’ problems.

Mr Pawar also trashed reports that he had changed his Twitter bio. “The last time I changed something was when I had to step down as Deputy Chief Minister,” he said.

Earlier, Ajit Pawar’s uncle and NCP chief Sharad Pawar had brushed off speculation about a split and a meeting of MLAs willing to switch to the ruling Eknath Shinde-BJP alliance.

“There is no truth in the reports. Ajit Pawar didn’t call any meeting. He is working for the party. This is all in your mind,” Mr Pawar told reporters.

Mr Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule had this morning hinted at “two big political explosions” in the next 15 days, intensifying the speculation swirling around her cousin Ajit Pawar.

“One (explosion) in Delhi and one in Maharashtra,” Supriya Sule, a senior NCP MP and the daughter of party chief Sharad Pawar, told reporters, responding to Prakash Ambedkar’s comment on “big political explosions in 15 days”.

Asked to specify, She said: “You know what explosion. I live in reality. If you ask me about today, I can tell you. I don’t know what is happening 15 days later.”

On whether Ajit Pawar was planning to cross over, Ms Sule said: “Why don’t you ask Ajit dada this? I don’t know about this. As a public representative, I have a lot of work. I don’t have time to gossip.”