THE Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has downplayed the тАЬmissing actтАЭ of party leader Ajit Pawar from its Shirdi convention on Saturday. The party has said that Ajit Pawar, who is the Leader of Opposition, did not attend the concluding session of its convention тАЬdue to some personal work.тАЭ
Ajit Pawar had attended the first day of the convention where he also delivered a speech. However, on the second day, Pawar skipped the session and went to his maternal grandmotherтАЩs place at Deolali Pravara, about 50 km from Shirdi.
The decision to skip the event on a day when an ailing NCP chief Sharad Pawar went all the way from Mumbai to Shirdi to attend the convention had triggered speculation that Ajit Pawar was тАЬunhappyтАЭ in the party.
NCPтАЩs state chief Jayant Patil, however, told reporters in Shirdi: тАЬAjit Pawar had a pre-decided family event at his maternal grandmotherтАЩs placeтАжHe had told me in advance about it.тАЭ Ajit Pawar, though, made no comments on the subject on Sunday.
