PUNE: A meeting between former state president of NCP (SP) Jayant Patil and BJP’s national general secretary Vinod Tawde in Mumbai has led to speculation about Sharad Pawar’s party exploring the option of joining the NDA.The recent meeting between Patil and Tawde created a flutter but Patil called it nonpolitical.He told TOI, “Members of a joint parliamentary committee were in a Mumbai hotel where I visited them. I happened to meet Tawde where we spoke briefly over coffee, but no political discussions happened between us.”CM Devendra Fadnavis too refuted any such developments. He told reporters in Delhi on Tuesday, “We are not trying to engineer any split in Sharad Pawar’s party. No attempts are being made to bring MLAs and MPs of NCP (SP) to our side. No new party from Maharashtra will join the NDA.”The Patil-Tawde meeting was held amid rumours of NCP (SP) MPs getting offers to join NDA allies after 6 MPs from Shiv Sena (UBT) switched to the Shiv Sena.NCP (SP) MP Amol Kolhe also grabbed attention when he said if a ‘proposal’ comes from Mahayuti, he would give it a thought. Though Kolhe later claimed his statement was misconstrued, it led to speculation.On Kolhe’s statement and a meet between Patil and Tawde, ex-MLC of NCP Amol Mitkari said, “If NCP (SP) wants to avoid Sena (UBT) kind of split, joining NDA would be the best option.”NCP (SP) working president Supriya Sule refuted speculation about her party joining NDA. “I am not aware of the meeting (between Patil and Tawde),” she said.
