"Felt Like Laughing" At Opposition Unity Meet, Says Praful Patel
NDTV
Praful Patel's switch is seen to be a huge shock to Sharad Pawar, whom he described as his guide and mentor.
Sharad Pawar's long-time aide Praful Patel today shared a searing assessment of last month's opposition unity meet at Patna as he defended his crossover to the BJP-led coalition along with Ajit Pawar.
Praful Patel, who was always by Sharad Pawar's side as they represented the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in meetings, said he "felt like laughing" at what he saw at the meeting of 17 opposition parties.
"I went to the joint opposition meeting in Patna with Sharad Pawar and I felt like laughing when I saw the scene there. There were 17 opposition parties there, seven of them have only 1 MP in the Lok Sabha and one party has zero MPs. These parties claim they will bring change," Praful Patel sneered, addressing Ajit Pawar's meeting in Mumbai around the same time Sharad Pawar held a separate gathering in another part of the city.