A state BJP minister asked Maharashtra Deputy president Minister Sunetra Pawar not to upset the alliance after learning that the NCP president had met Prashant Kishor, who had just defeated a BJP candidate in Bihar bypolls.
Chandrashekhar Bawankule, the Revenue Minister of Maharashtra and the Guardian Minister for the districts of Nagpur and Amravati, seemed to counsel Sunetra Pawar, saying, “Do not take any step that might cause a rift in the alliance.”
“This is a party internal issue. However, no action that could cause mistrust among alliance partners or hurt any party should be conducted while still being a member of the Mahayuti coalition. The BJP Minister declared, “Everyone must follow the Mahayuti’s code of conduct.”
In Maharashtra, the ruling BJP has an alliance partner in Sunetra Pawar’s NCP. The third alliance partner is the Shiv Sena, led by Eknath Shinde.
“I have nothing further to say about why she met Prashant Kishor, but there should be no conduct that creates a rift or mistrust within the alliance,” he said.
According to her party official Sanjay Khodke, Kishor met Sunetra Pawar in her official mansion, “Devgiri,” in south Mumbai.
The facts of the conversation between Kishor and Pawar were not disclosed by the NCP leader.
Since Sunetra Pawar’s husband, then deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, died in a plane crash in Baramati in January of this year, Kishor, who had orchestrated election victories for leaders ranging from Arvind Kejriwal to Mamata Banerjee and Narendra Modi, has met her twice.
Parth Pawar, her son and NCP leader, had stated that Kishor was well-known to his family after their initial encounter a few months prior.
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