Soon after the meeting between NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi, ended on Monday evening, the NCP chief addressing a media brief sent out a cryptic message saying “we are with everyone”.
Almost after a 25-day impasse NCP chief still chose to leave a double-edged sword hanging over the Shiv Sena’s fate, as he says that Shiv Sena was not discussed during the meeting he had with the Congress President today at her 10 Janpath residence in the national capital.
“I met her. We discussed the Maharashtra political situation. I have appraised her of the situation now. We will continue to monitor the situation in Maharashtra. We will take people from both parties into confidence and seek their opinion. Then the future course of action will be decided,” said the arch member of the National Congress party.
Sharad Pawar after meeting Sonia Gandhi: We discussed in detail about Maharashtra’s political situation. I briefed her on it. Mr. AK Antony was also there. Certain leaders of both(Congress-NCP) parties will meet and discuss further and get back to us pic.twitter.com/0QKsSsD8oD
— ANI (@ANI) November 18, 2019
When questioned on forming a government in alliance with Shiv Sena, Pawar said, “We did not speak of forming a government with anyone. We did not speak of if we should with someone.”
Keeping Sena on the edge of their seats Pawar said that there were no talks regarding an alliance with Sena. He further shrugged off Sena’s claims about having the numbers to form government in Maharashtra, saying “don’t know where Sena is getting 170 MLA’s. Moreover, on being asked if Sonia Gandhi is opposed to forming Govt in alliance with Shiv Sena, the NCP chief said: There was no talk of Govt formation in our meeting, this meeting was all about discussing Congress and NCP.
Sharad Pawar on if Sonia Gandhi is opposed to forming Govt in alliance with Shiv Sena: There was no talk of Govt formation in our meeting, this meeting was all about discussing Congress and NCP. https://t.co/26TnM7lhRf pic.twitter.com/rghFDkuc6A
— ANI (@ANI) November 18, 2019
Even before the two bigwigs of NCP and Congress met today to discuss the possibility of formation of an alternative government in Maharashtra, Pawar had remained non-committal on Shiv Sena alliance by telling the media on Friday: “BJP-Shiv Sena fought together, we (NCP) and Congress fought together. They have to choose their path and we will do our politics.”
