New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday declined to confirm or deny his purported meeting with NCP Chief Sharad Pawar, amid the crisis in Maharashtra coalition government.
"Everything cannot be made public," he said to a question on the meeting during a press conference.
According to media reports, Shah met Pawar and Congress Party leader and former Union Minister Praful Patel in Ahmedabad.
Shah's cryptic comment left everyone guessing even as reports about the meeting had triggered speculations amid the political crisis in Maharashtra amid former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh's serious charges against state Home Minister Anil Deshmukh.
On the other side, Congress, which is silent on these developments and insists that the MVA government will run for full five years, has, however, raised objections on Raut suggesting Pawar as UPA Chairperson. State party chief Nana Patole said that they had raised the issue with Chief Minister Thackeray during their meeting. enior NCP leader Praful Patel on Sunday rejected claims that his party was holding talks with the BJP for an alliance, while terming the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government in Maharashtra "stable and safe".
"We all are aware that the MVA government was formed because of (NCP supremo) Sharad Pawarji... there is no reason to talk of unnecessary things in the state... as far as the government is concerned, the MVA under Uddhav Thackeray is stable and safe," he told reporters in Kerala.
"NCP will work in the interest of the people of Maharashtra and at the national level and the Kerala level, we are opposed to BJP-NDA ideology.... unnecessary talk of any backdoor alliance makes no sense," he added.
The Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra includes the NCP and the Congress.
(With agency inputs)
