Political meetings should not be viewed with suspicion, she said, and urged people to stop assuming that every meeting between political leaders is part of a conspiracy.
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Pawar met MLAs of his party in Shinde’s office at the Vidhan Bhavan complex in Mumbai last Wednesday.
The veteran leader was at the state legislature premises to attend a meeting as a member of the high-powered committee formed by the state government on the long-pending Maharashtra-Karnataka border dispute. After the meeting, Pawar, whose party is a constituent of the opposition bloc Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), paid the visit to Shinde in his chamber.
The meeting triggered political speculation and also drew flak from the NCP (SP) ally Shiv Sena (UBT), which described it as a move that led to glorification of traitors, a comment targeted at Shinde and his party leaders.
Talking to reporters about it, Sule said Pawar had walked into the legislature complex despite her asking him not to exert himself. Some MLAs (of the NCP-SP) requested him to spend a few minutes with them, following which he entered (Shinde’s) cabin.”In Parliament and in any assembly, only the Prime Minister’s office and the Chief Minister’s office have fixed locations. The offices of other leaders keep changing. There is nothing permanent in politics,” she said.
Sule praised Shinde for his gesture during the meeting, saying the deputy CM briefly stepped out of a cabinet meeting to greet Pawar.
“Shinde saheb came out of the cabinet meeting, presented Pawar saheb with a bouquet and left. That reflects his large-heartedness. Good things should be acknowledged,” she said.
Sule said she had personally spoken to Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut, who had criticised Pawar after the episode, and explained the circumstances to him.
Raut later clarified publicly that his misunderstanding had been resolved, she added.
Sule said she was not interested in revisiting old political episodes.
“I live in the present, not in history,” she said.
Referring to her recent visit to Uttar Pradesh, Sule said political meetings should not automatically be viewed with suspicion.
“I had breakfast with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath as part of the committee’s work on ‘One Nation, One Election‘. He guided us in his capacity as chief minister. We met him, took photographs and thanked him,” she said.
She said she later met Samajwadi Party leaders Dimple Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav because the two families share close personal ties.
“Please stop assuming that every meeting between political leaders is part of a conspiracy. It is unfortunate that in Maharashtra politics every meeting is viewed through that lens,” Sule said.
On NCP (SP) leader Jayant Patil‘s recent meeting with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Sule said Patil had officially sought an appointment to raise the issue of action taken against a municipal council president belonging to the Sharad Pawar-led party.
“Jayant Patil officially sought time from the chief minister, went for the meeting and returned. There was nothing secretive about it,” she said.
Asked whether NCP leaders Sunil Tatkare and Praful Patel were present at the meeting, Sule said she had no information, and suggested the question should be directed to Fadnavis as the meeting had taken place at his residence.
