Pawar has assured Uddhav that NCP will not ally with BJP even if some individual leaders quit: Sanjay Raut

“We [MVA alliance] will not bow before this pressure.”

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut on Sunday claimed that Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar had assured his party leader Uddhav Thackeray that regardless of any decision that individual NCP leaders take, the NCP as a party will not ally with the BJP whatever be the pressure on it.

Earlier this week, Mr. Thackeray had a 90-minute meeting with Mr. Pawar at the latter’s ‘Silver Oak’ residence in Mumbai amid intense speculation of a second ‘political earthquake’ in Maharashtra (following Eknath Shinde’s coup last year) and the possibility of fresh political realignments.

In his weekly column, Rok Thok, published in the Sena (UBT)’s mouthpiece Saamana today, Mr. Raut claimed that during their meeting, Mr. Pawar had allegedly told Uddhav Thackeray though nobody wanted to leave the NCP voluntarily, the families of many leaders were being targeted.

“Mr. Pawar told Mr. Thackeray that if anyone wants to take any personal decision [to leave the NCP and join the ruling BJP], then it is their lookout. But as a ‘party’, we [the NCP] will not take the decision to go with BJP,” the Sena (UBT) leader wrote.

He further said that both Mr. Thackeray and Mr. Sharad Pawar were of the opinion that there was tremendous rage against the present Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena-BJP dispensation and that anybody joining hands with them would be committing ‘political harakiri’.

Later, speaking to reporters in Nagpur, Mr. Raut said that many NCP MLAs are being pressured by Central agencies like the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

“Pawar family members, too, are under pressure. Both [current Maharashtra Leader of Opposition] Ajit Pawar and [Sharad Pawar’s grand-nephew] Rohit Pawar have either faced the heat of Central agencies or received threats [to join the BJP]. But we [MVA alliance] will not bow before this pressure. Sharad Pawar has said that whatever happens, we will keep fighting,” said the Sena (UBT) leader.