Meet was purely for development purposes and no politics should be assigned to it: Sharad Pawar

Putting behind the spite of bitterly fought Maharashtra Assembly polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi shared a platform with the NCP leader Sharad Pawar and had lunch with him, setting off conjecture about a possible political realignment in the state.

Even though both the leaders insisted that no politics should be stuffed in their public meet, much political importance is being attached to it, following the strained relation between BJP and its ally Shiv Sena.

Photo: PTI

Modi who had called NCP ‘Naturally Corrupt Party’ last year during the assembly elections, attended many establishments run by Sharad Pawar.He visited the Vidya Pratishthan, run by the Pawars and inaugurated the Appasaheb Pawar Auditorium that is named after Sharad Pawar’s brother, an influential leader of the NCP.

Modi praised and thanked Pawar for inviting him out to Baramati.  He visited the farmers’ conclave at the Krishi Vigyan Kendra where he inaugurated a Centre for Excellence for Vegetables.

“As Chief Minister of Gujarat, I faced problems, including those from the Government of India. I then used to call Sharad Rao and he rose above party politics and helped me out. Never a month passed when we didn’t talk 2-3 times. For his contribution, I felicitate him here, in Baramati,” Modi said.

Modi in front of a large media group said, “Today is a special day for the media. They would keenly observe what I said earlier (during the polls) and what I say today. This is the beauty of democracy.

“Democracy works on two tracks. The first is of ‘vivad’ (debate) and second is ‘samvad’ (communication). We are in different political parties with different agenda, but for us country is above party and statesmanship is above politics,” he said.

“But, in our country, the meeting of two leaders makes big news. The communication (between leaders) should never stop and in this those in power have a greater responsibility,” Modi said.

Sharad Pawar too, aimed to clarify that their meet was purely for development purposes and no politics should be assigned to it.

Photo: PTI

“We may fight in politics for two days. But for the rest 363 days we should be devoted to development. We are always ready to support you in all your development initiatives,” he said.

Pawar obtained reservation for the Dhangar (shepherd) community of scheduled tribes. Modi had slammed Pawar during the election meeting in Baramati last year because he failed to obtain reservation for the community.

Though both the leaders avoided speaking of getting close politically, their recent proximity cannot be unseen after Shiv Sena publicly accused BJP in the Delhi assembly election fiasco.

(Cover photo: PTI)

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About Shruti Dabholkar

Shruti Dabholkar is a young and an aspiring journalist who covers political news on the national front. She is an ambitious and desiring girl who finds politics interesting. She writes articles for Spectralhues. She can be followed on Twitter: @Shruti_d9.