Pune: Veteran politician and NCP (SP) Sharad Pawar spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Wednesday with his daughter and NCP (SP) working president Supriya Sule, a day after visiting Jantar Mantar where he met the protesters of Cockroach Janta Party.While NCP (SP) has not officially conveyed the details of the meeting, the timing of the meeting is considered crucial against the backdrop of the ongoing protest by CJP and opposition parties demanding Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation.A day before meeting the PM, Sharad Pawar visited the protest site and met CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke after which he said that his party would raise the issues highlighted by the protesters in the ongoing Parliament session and he would take the initiative to start a dialogue between the Centre and the agitators.On the Pawar-Modi meeting, NCP (SP) national spokesperson Anish Gawande said, “The details of the meeting are not yet out, but given the sensitive nature of the ongoing protest in the national capital, Pawar Saheb has already said that he would take the initiative to resolve it. He would have raised the Jantar Mantar protest issue in his meeting with the Prime Minister. He is the most experienced politician, we are hopeful that the Prime Minister would take his advice seriously.”Before the start of Parliament’s session, speculation was rife that NCP (SP) was tilting towards NDA when Supriya hinted that her party would consider supporting the delimitation bill if the Lok Sabha seats are increased by 50% in every state. However, during the ongoing CJP protest, the party’s leadership was protesting against the Centre over the violence used against the agitators on Monday.NCP (SP) also claimed that no political discussions were held between the two politicians. The party’s state chief Shashikant Shinde said, “Pawar Saheb has supported the CJP protest and he would have gone to meet the Prime Minister to convey the protesters’ demand. I do not think there was any political discussion in the meeting.”
