Senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and Sharad Pawar loyalist Jayant Patil quashed all speculation that he allegedly met with Home Minister Amit Shah in Pune during the latter’s visit to Pune on August 6.
Categorically denying rumours of his purported meeting with Mr. Shah in Pune, Mr. Patil, speaking in Mumbai on August 6, stressed he had never ventured out of Mumbai since Saturday and exhorted news channels to stop broadcasting misleading reports about him.
“All the while I was in Mumbai. I was at Pawar saheb’s [Sharad Pawar’s] home yesterday [Saturday]. Then, on Saturday night, I had a meeting with senior party members, including Anil Deshmukh and Rajesh Tope, which continued till the wee hours of Sunday. Today morning, I again had a meeting with Mr. Pawar regarding internal party matters. So, where could I have met him [Amit Shah]? We are all with Mr. Pawar and the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi [MVA],” clarified Mr. Patil, a seven-term MLA from Sangli’s Islampur-Walwa constituency.
