Maharashtra: Sharad Pawar Meets Uddhav Thackeray; Urges MVA Leaders To Speak With One Voice In Public

Sharad Pawar, the NCP chief, has urged Uddhav Thackeray, the Shiv Sena (UBT) chief, to ensure that MVA's leaders speak with a single, consistent voice before the public.

Pawar expressed his discontent with MVA's leaders for publicly sharing their conflicting opinions.

At a meeting with Thackeray in Mumbai on Tuesday, Pawar stated that he might attend an MVA rally.

“The NCP chief said all the three parties might have their own agenda and their own plans and policies, but when they go before the people as MVA leaders, they need to speak in one voice and one language.

"If we place forth our differing views before the people, they will get confused and it will be bad publicity for the MVA,” Shiv Sena (UBT) spokesperson Sanjay Raut said, reported The Indian Express.

According to Raut, the Shiv Sena leader concurred with Pawar's opinions and emphasised the necessity of conducting discussions regarding refraining from publicly expressing their views. This would prevent any confusion and also prevent the BJP from using their statements as ammunition to criticize them.

“We also hold similar views like those of the NCP chief,” Raut said.

Lately, the coalition parties in Maharashtra, namely MVA, have been in discord over several critical concerns. The Nationalist Congress Party leader, Pawar, expressed his disapproval of a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the Adani issue, unlike the Congress party, which supported it.

Meanwhile, on the Savarkar issue, Shiv Sena and NCP demanded a prestigious civil award, Bharat Ratna, for him. However, Congress accused him of apologising and being loyal to the British.

NCP's Supriya Sule and Raut joined Pawar and Uddhav on Tuesday for a one-and-a-half hour discussion.

During their meeting, the two leaders covered a range of topics such as calls for a JPC investigation into the Adani matter, the fallout from Rahul Gandhi's London comments, Narendra Modi's educational qualifications, as well as the effects of untimely rains in Maharashtra.

Also discussed were Eknath Shinde and Devendra Fadnavis's recent visit to Ayodhya instead of prioritising solutions to alleviate the farmers' plight, according to Raut.

“The very first meeting of MVA in Aurangabad drew a huge response. On 16 April, there will be a second meeting in Nagpur. On 1 May, NCP chief Sharad Pawar is expected to address an MVA rally in Pune,” said Raut.