NCP seniors meet Amit Shah in Delhi, voice displeasure over Parth Pawar's appointments, say sources

Since Sunetra Pawar took charge of the party, a string of meetings has been under way in New Delhi. On Sunday night, senior party leaders met at the residence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah. According to the available information, the meeting was about a possible Cabinet reshuffle and the demand for the finance portfolio.

Notably, neither Sunetra Pawar nor Parth Pawar was present. Sources say that is why the complaint against Parth Pawar was the main agenda of the meeting. According to sources, the complaints covered several matters: appointments made by Parth Pawar to key party posts, Sunetra Pawar and Parth Pawar speaking directly to the Union Home Minister while keeping senior leaders aside, and confusion over the standing of Praful Patel and Sunil Tatkare in the party.

Senior leaders including Sunil Tatkare, Praful Patel, Dilip Walse Patil and Dhananjay Munde met Shah in Delhi at 9 pm on Sunday. The meeting lasted about two hours. The leaders are said to have raised the issue of the finance portfolio with Shah. It is also understood that they said they did not accept the two NCPs coming together. When photographs of the meeting emerged, Parth Pawar and Sunetra Pawar were not in them, which intensified talk in political circles.

According to sources, leaders had also expressed displeasure over Parth Pawar's functioning at a meeting of the party's core committee. They had expected that, in picking Zeeshan Siddique as Mumbai president and Umesh Patil as the party's national spokesperson, at least the core committee members would have been taken into confidence. The selections were made on his own, so the leaders were upset. The leaders were of the view that future decisions should be taken with everyone on board and after consulting experienced leaders.

According to the information available, the senior leaders in Delhi also told Shah that Parth Pawar had made similar appointments earlier as well and had placed people of his own thinking and his own camp in several posts. The senior leaders are said to be upset over this.

After the meeting with Shah, the party's core committee met on Monday. That meeting too was held without Parth Pawar, and his style of working was again discussed. It is said that after the discussion, an assurance was given that Parth Pawar and Jay Pawar would be asked to work in coordination with the senior leaders.

On the other hand, party MP Sunil Tatkare has said there is no displeasure anywhere in the party and that the Delhi meeting had been scheduled earlier.

Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar has now called a meeting of all the party's MLAs in Mumbai on Tuesday evening. It is said that this meeting was fixed earlier and is to discuss the state's drought situation. Even so, after the Delhi meeting on Sunday and the core committee meeting on Monday, all eyes are on what Sunetra Pawar will say at this meeting at the Devgiri bungalow.