Ajit Pawar has denied that he was upset over his cousin’s elevation in the party organisation. He has clarified that he himself had suggested making Supriya Sule the working president of the Nationalist Congress Party when a committee of leaders was entrusted with the job of resolving the issue of leadership in the wake of party president Sharad Pawar’s resignation last month. According to him, most of the committee members prioritised the decision to ask the party boss to withdraw his resignation and put other things, such as  Supriya’s appointment, on hold. “I had suggested Supriya’s name for the working president, but others said that requesting Pawar saheb to withdraw his resignation should be our priority. They did not wish to take up any other matter. When working in a democracy one has to go by the majority and it happened that way only,” he told the media on Saturday on his arrival from Delhi where Sule and Praful Patel were anointed as the working presidents. Ajit Pawar was present at the announcement. Later, his very presence and some unpredictable actions before leaving Delhi led to the speculations that he was upset. 

Upset over the speculations that became the breaking story peg, Ajit Pawar clarified that his political interest was in Maharashtra and there would be no two power centres in the party. “Supriya is an excellent Parliamentarian. Her work has been recognised and praised time and again. I have always spoken very clearly about my area of interest, “ he added, asking whether he should give it in writing on stamp paper. “Gossip happens in the streets, but now I understand that the media too indulges in gossiping,” he quipped. In Delhi, Pawar senior said the speculations that Ajit was denied a party responsibility did not have ‘even one per cent truth’. He said the decision was in accordance with the party’s ‘one person one post’ rule because Ajit had been working as the Opposition leader and leader of the NCP legislative party in Maharashtra.