NCP chief loses cool when asked about kin

Mumbai: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Friday surprised many when he lost his cool after a journalist asked him about his relative, former minister Padmasinh Patil, leaving the NCP.

The incident occurred after the veteran leader, who was addressing a press conference in Shrirampur, replied sarcastically to a query about leaders who were switching loyalties owing to the “development” brought about by the saffron party. Mr Pawar said, “Their (the leaders’) development took place in the last 10-15 years in our party. Perhaps, now they want more development, and the BJP and Shiv Sena may have shown them the path to attain it. I don’t have information about this kind of development.”

The leader added that party leaders were not deserting the party, but only quitting it.

However, when a journalist mentioned that Mr Pawar’s relatives were also deserting the party, the former Union minister said, “Why are you raising the issue of relatives?

What you’re saying is wrong. What is the connection between relatives and politics? If you are going to speak like this, I would not want to talk.”

Mr Pawar went to say that “such persons” should not be invited to his press conferences.  “I request that such people are not called next time,” Mr Pawar added. The veteran leader even requested the journalist with folded hand to leave the event.

Mr Patil’s sister is married to Mr Pawar’s nephew Ajit Pawar.

The NCP has been witnessing an exodus with MLAs Shivendrasinh Bhosale, Sandip Naik and Vaibhav Pichad quitting the party and joining the BJP last month alone. The party’s Shahapur and Beed MLAs, Pandurang Barora and Jaydutt Kshirsagar, and its Mumbai unit chief, Sachin Ahir, had also switched loyalties and joined the Shiv Sena recently.