As buzz around NCP being split settles, sparks fly between allies Sanjay Raut and Ajit Pawar

While the buzz of Ajit Pawar joining the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena dispensation may have apparently subsided, the friction between Mr. Pawar and his Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition ally, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut continued.

While the buzz of Ajit Pawar joining the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena dispensation may have apparently subsided, the friction between Mr. Pawar and his Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition ally, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut continued.

A day after Mr. Pawar scotched rumours of him joining the ruling parties as “baseless”, Mr. Raut on Wednesday said he was the chowkidar (watchman) of the MVA alliance (of the Thackeray-led Sena, the NCP and Congress) and that the NCP leader had no reason to “get angry or blame him” (Mr. Raut) if he exposed the fact that the BJP was attempting to break the NCP.

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“I am the chowkidar [watchman] of the MVA… When the Shiv Sena was being split [referring to Eknath Shinde’s revolt], all our allies [NCP chief] Sharad Pawar, Ajit Pawar and the Congress’ Nana Patole had expressed worry about us. It is our duty to ensure that all our allies remain firm when pressure is being applied by the BJP in form of Central agencies to break us,” said Mr. Raut, speaking to reporters in Mumbai.

The Sena (UBT) leader further said that Mr. Ajit Pawar was no one to raise questions about his (Mr. Raut’s) reliability.

“How can he question my reliability? I can accept if [NCP president] Sharad Pawar says something. And what is wrong if I’ve written in the Saamana that there was an attempt to break the opposition in Maharashtra? Have the BJP not broken the Shiv Sena? Are they not targeting the NCP? Go and ask NCP leaders Hasan Mushrif, Jitendra Awhad, Praful Patel or Anil Deshmukh whether or not there is any pressure on them. If I am putting these things in front of the public what is wrong with that,” Mr. Raut said, adding that he would always go on speaking the truth and if it hurt somebody, there was nothing he could do about it.

Speculation over Ajit Pawar’s possible exit from the NCP peaked after Mr. Raut, who is the executive editor of his party’s mouthpiece Saamana, claimed that during their Uddhav Thackeray’s recent meeting with Sharad Pawar, the latter had reportedly spoken of the pressure being applied on NCP leaders by Central agencies but had assured Mr. Thackeray that the NCP would not ally with the BJP, come what may.