MUMBAI: Nationalist Congress Party (SP) MP Supriya Sule on Thursday sought to play down the controversy over party chief Sharad Pawar holding party in Maharashtra deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde‘s office at the Vidhan Bhavan, asserting that it was merely a “casual interaction” and “not a political development.”Her remarks came a day after Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut strongly criticised Pawar’s visit, saying it had hurt party workers and amounted to the “glorification of traitors.”However, Sule dismissed suggestions that Pawar’s meeting with Shinde carried any political significance.“There was no meeting here. Pawar saheb went to Vidhan Bhavan and while he was coming back, in one of the cabins, where amdar of the Nationalist Congress Party (were present), they both got together and discussed their work. Then Pawar saheb sat in his car and left.”Sule said the incident had been blown out of proportion and insisted there was nothing unusual about it.“We don’t even know whether it happened or not. We didn’t give it much importance because he was sitting somewhere for a meeting. He went to Shinde saheb’s office. Shinde saheb spoke a few words to Pawar saheb and then he returned to his cabin. This happened in a very casual manner,” she said.Seeking to defuse tensions within the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), Sule said she had personally spoken to Raut after his remarks.Sule further maintained that interactions between senior political leaders holding constitutional positions should not be viewed with suspicion.“Meeting constitutional functionaries is normal, there was nothing unusual about it,” she said.The controversy erupted after Sharad Pawar visited Shinde’s chamber at the Vidhan Bhavan on Wednesday after attending a meeting on the Maharashtra-Karnataka border dispute. During the visit, Pawar also interacted with MLAs of his party inside Shinde’s office.The development drew sharp criticism from Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut, who on Thursday reiterated that his party had been “upset” by the meeting because it involved Eknath Shinde, whom the Sena (UBT) considers responsible for splitting the party and bringing down the Uddhav Thackeray-led government in 2022.“We were upset yesterday, but we are not upset today. Pawar saheb is our supreme leader and a leader of the Maha Vikas Aghadi. Yesterday, we only expressed our feelings,” Raut said.He, however, maintained that Shinde was “the biggest traitor” and said leaders should not accord respect to those who betray political parties.Senior Congress leader and former CM Prithviraj Chavan also weighed in on the controversy, saying it was natural for Shiv Sena (UBT) workers to feel hurt given Shinde’s role in the party split. However, he added that there was nothing wrong with political rivals maintaining cordial personal relations outside the political arena.(With agency inputs)
