Supriya Sule explains Sharad Pawar's hospital meeting with Praful Patel, says fight is ideological

Praful Patel met Sharad Pawar while the NCP leader was undergoing treatment in hospital. A video and photographs of the meeting later surfaced. The two leaders had spoken for a long time. In the video, Pawar was seen telling Patel that they would meet on the 10th. The video led to much speculation. Supriya Sule has now addressed the question of what the two discussed, at a press conference in Mumbai.

State politics is heated over the merger of the Nationalist Congress parties. Sule called the press conference to speak on several political discussions, among them the Pawar-Patel meeting.

Sule said, "What is wrong if a person went to meet someone in hospital? Have we become so uncultured? Leave the hospital aside. I have praised Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj many times. I often remember them in Parliament too. When they were in the Opposition, they were big leaders. I must have discussed issues with Chidambaram umpteen times. Working with him on a committee is a big thing for me. As we listen to him, we note down many issues. We note down his speeches. Reading his articles is a week's study for us."

On the point that "our fight is ideological, not personal", Sule said, "In policy making, no one belongs to any party. In the Opposition we take a hard line, but in policy making... The Pahalgam attack happened. Sharad Pawar said this was an attack on the country and that we stand with the government. He took that line first. Everyone then took the same line. Then 100 MPs went to 50 countries. We went on behalf of the country. This is an ideological fight, not a personal fight."

Sule said that we do politics in the name of Yashwantrao Chavan. If we do not follow his ideas, she said, we have no right to take his name.