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#MaharashtraPolitics: Sharad Pawar Holds Party Meeting In Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s office Leaves Shiv Sena (UBT) Fuming, NCP-SP Defend Move
After attending the meeting, Pawar, whose party is a constituent of the opposition bloc Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), paid a “courtesy visit” to Shinde in his chamber.
Picture Credit : @mieknathshinde/X
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Maratha stalwart Sharad Pawar holding a party meeting in Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s office in Mumbai has turned into a flashpoint between Shiv Sena-UBT and NCP-SP, with both opposition allies targeting each other over the development.
Shiv Sena-UBT leader Sanjay Raut said his party was disturbed and hurt with Pawar’s meeting in Shinde’s office, and stressed that such acts lower the credibility of a senior leader like him. He added that the meeting amounted to “glorification of traitors”.
The NCP-SP hit back at Raut in strong words, accusing him of adopting “double standards” and reminding him that Pawar’s meetings with him and Shiv Sena-UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray were earlier hailed as “political statesmanship”.
Stating that politics runs on arithmetic and not emotions, the NCP-SP also said if a single meeting between Pawar and Shinde could unsettle the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance, then it reflects that its foundation is weak.
Pawar, who heads the NCP-SP, met MLAs of his party in Shinde’s office at the Vidhan Bhavan complex in Mumbai on Wednesday.
Pawar 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.
📍 मुंबई |
राष्ट्रवादी काँग्रेस शरदचंद्र पवार पक्षाचे अध्यक्ष व खासदार शरद पवार यांनी आज माझ्या विधिमंडळातील दालनात येऊन सदिच्छा भेट घेतली.
विधानभवनात आज कर्नाटक- महाराष्ट्र सीमा प्रश्नावरील उच्चाधिकार समितीची बैठक संपन्न झाली. या बैठकीनंतर त्यांनी माझ्या दालनात येऊन ही भेट… pic.twitter.com/udsXlmWrMq
— Eknath Shinde – एकनाथ शिंदे (@mieknathshinde) July 8, 2026
After attending the meeting, Pawar, whose party is a constituent of the opposition bloc Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), paid a “courtesy visit” to Shinde in his chamber.
Talking to reporters on Thursday, Raut said, “Sharad Pawar is a senior and respectable leader. The credibility of a senior leader lowers when he goes and holds such meetings under the roof of a traitor who brought down our government.”
Pawar’s act of visiting Shinde’s office amounted to glorification of traitors, he said. “Holding party meeting in Shinde’s office has disturbed Shiv Sena-UBT. It is hurtful,” the Rajya Sabha MP said.
He accused Shinde of being the reason behind the “infestation of termites of corruption” in Maharashtra.
“Was the entire Vidhan Sabha unavailable (that Pawar had to hold a meeting Shinde’s cabin)? Y B Chavan Pratisthan Rashtravadi Bhavan were also nearby,” he said.
“This is the opinion of a loyal party worker. We are not so tolerant to allow holding meetings in traitors’ offices. Our heart is not that big and we will not even do that,” Raut said.